Triumph
by jazzpha
Summary: Sequel to 'Torn'. Twenty-five years after the War against Aizen ended, Soul Society faces a new crisis from within its ranks that threatens to plunge Arrancar and Shinigami headlong into battle once again. Multiple pairings.
1. Portents

**Triumph**

**Chapter 1: **Portents

* * *

Inoue Orihime walked with barely-maintained calm down the halls of the Fourth Division, nodding absent-mindedly to her subordinates as they bowed hastily and moved out of her way. The Captain's Meeting had been long and heated yet again; the last thing the Fourth's leader wanted to deal with right now was more paperwork, but someone had to get it done and it sure wasn't going to be her Lieutenant.

Sliding the door to her office open, Orihime shrugged the _haori_ off of her back and threw it over to its hook on the wall. Wincing and rolling her shoulder in a vain effort to ease the tightness in her muscles, the Captain let her feet carry her over to her desk and sat down. Rubbing her eyes and sighing, Orihime prepared herself to tear through another stack of soul-numbing paperwork…

Only to see it all in a neat pile in front of her, completely filled out. She was surprised for a few moments, but when Orihime's eyes finally recognized the sharp, clean handwriting, she smiled. It looked like her Third Seat had been working overtime again.

As if on some cue, a snore coming from over on the office couch brought the Captain's attention to the young woman curled up on it, taking a well-earned nap. Orihime rose and walked softly over to the couch, her suspicions confirmed as its occupant rolled over fitfully, bringing the face of Fourth Division's Third Seat into the light.

"Amara, wake up."

Her words succeeded in getting nothing more than another snore out of her subordinate, so Orihime repeated herself, a little louder. This time Amara's eyes opened, grayish-blue and unfocused. Blinking twice to clear her vision, the Third Seat's expression jolted from lethargic to shocked in an instant.

"Captain!" she exclaimed, bolting to a sitting position as her black bangs framed her face messily. "I'm so sorry I—" Amara began to speak, but Orihime quieted her with a look that would have made Unohana proud.

"What are you apologizing for?" she asked, her voice laced with matronly concern. "That you finished all of my paperwork for me, unasked, and then went to sleep on my couch? Don't be ridiculous."

"But I've still overstepped my bounds in presuming to perform your duties, Captain," Amara persisted, and Orihime had to bite back a sigh at her subordinate's behavior. "Please, reprimand me in some way or it might seem like favoritism!"

The Captain frowned slightly as Amara spat out the word 'favoritism' like it was venomous, still not understanding why the Third Seat kept refusing offers of promotion that were handed out sincerely, as acknowledgments of her performance.

"Very well then, Third Seat," Orihime spoke in as commanding a voice as she could, forcing her mouth to remain at a smirk and not burst out into a grin to risk ruining the mood with laughter, "here is your punishment: Go back to your own quarters and finish your nap there."

Amara raised an eyebrow in confusion as she heard the words of her superior.

"But—"

"Don't argue with me," the Captain warned, "or I might _actually_ punish you for insubordination. Now get out of here and get some rest; you've earned it."

The Third Seat nodded and rose, sliding the door open and beginning to walk out of the office. Before she had gone more than two steps, however, Amara was shoulder-checked by a man twice her size, wearing the insignia of the Fourth Division on his arm.

"Watch where you're going, Third Seat," he grumbled, "I just got these robes cleaned. Captain Orihime," he continued, switching his tone completely to one of total respect, "you summoned me?"

"Yes, Daisuke," the Captain affirmed, now regretting the Hell Butterfly she had sent out right as the Captain's Meeting had ended, "I did. Please, come in and take a seat."

Amara grit her teeth and closed the door behind her a bit harder than usual, heedless to the members of her Division that scattered before her as her reiatsu gave off a distinctly murderous edge. By the time she had reached her room and collapsed down onto her cot, the Third Seat's thoughts were too volatile to let her get any rest.

She wanted to kill Daisuke, the pompous Lieutenant and her technical superior. She wanted to shatter his kneecaps and watch him writhe on the floor in agony, and Amara knew she had the power to do it. But that very potential, which might have acted as a consolation, instead made her even more furious because she was forbidden to do anything violent against her superior. Even if he was a total jackass.

Now far too riled up to take a nap for at least another five hours, Amara got up off her bed and walked quickly over to the private shower that was one of her few luxuries as a Third Seat, removing layers of her clothing as she went. The icy cold water succeeded partly in calming her nerves, but Amara's brows still furrowed in annoyance as she saw the black dye in her long hair running off, exposing the true shade of silver that was hiding underneath it.

"Damn it," she cursed, irritated that she was going to have to dye it again so soon. Amara wished that she could have worn her tresses naturally, as she found the shade of silver quite beautiful in its own right, but the last thing she needed was everyone giving her flack for being the bastard child of a traitor. It was bad enough that she had to act civil around a mother who treated her like garbage, who had abandoned her at birth as an unwanted mistake…

Amara quickly shut the running water off, using the sharp change in temperature to derail her self-destructive train of thought. Quickly drying herself off and slipping on a robe, the Third Seat busied herself with masking her hair color in order to keep the tears stinging the corners of her eyes at bay.

* * *

"What the hell do you mean, 'You're done'?"

"What does it sound like I mean, kid?" Héctor shot back. "I mean that I'm done training with you guys. Finished. Over. I'm going home."

"I thought our agreement was that you left when _we_ said you were ready, dickhead," Hiyori pressed, unwilling to lose this argument. "Since when did you become an expert on controlling your Inner Hollow, huh?" The Vizard paused for a beat, and then her voice spiked to a shout. "And don't fucking call me a kid!" she ranted, trying to slap Héctor with her sandal only to have it blocked without him even looking.

"Cool it, Hiyori," Shinji broke in, his mouth curling into a sly smile. "Keep on ranting like y'are and people might get the idea yer gonna _miss_ this kid."

The youngest Vizard sputtered, a faint dusting of red gracing her cheeks before she huffed and stalked off. Héctor watched her go and smiled sadly; as much as she annoyed the crap out of him and frequently made him want to butcher something, Hiyori had become like something of a little sister to him over the years. A sister that he wanted to throttle on a regular basis, but a sister nonetheless.

"The kid hasn't seen his family in a quarter of a century, Shinji," Lisa said distractedly as she flipped through her latest magazine. "I say let him go, if he wants to go."

"Well, no point in us keeping ya here if you're not gonna be serious about training," Shinji spoke indifferently, but Kensei smirked as he caught the faint note of regret in the leader's voice.

The truth was that Héctor had acted like a catalyst for the Vizards; having a pupil had forced them to be concerned about someone other than themselves, slowly coaxing them out of their bitter indifference that had been nursed by years of exile and isolation.

"You can go back to Soul Society," Shinji continued, his look turning serious, "just be sure you know what you might be getting into, kid."

"C'mon, Shinji," Héctor said with a laugh, "you know how strong I've gotten. D'you honestly think those Captains could touch me?"

"In a direct battle? Probably only a few of 'em could get you into a corner, true," the leader of the Vizards answered. "But you gotta remember that a fight ain't just about who can beat the other guy to a pulp the fastest. Emotions get involved more often than not, and those make things messy. As long as you got something, and I mean _anything_, to lose, you're vulnerable."

"What Shinji's trying to say is that women are nothing but trouble," Rose broke in smoothly, "and you're better off staying away from them. Right, Lisa?"

"Fuck off."

"Still, kid," Love spoke to Héctor in a tone that was a testament to his former position as a Captain in the Thirteen Divisions, "don't let your guard down. I doubt any of the Captains have been letting their skills dull since the War ended, least of all the ones with axes to grind."

"Yeah, I hear that," Héctor answered over his shoulder as he walked out of the warehouse the Vizards called home. "Thanks for everything, guys!"

"If Soul Society goes to shit and you wind up back here a homeless bum, don't come crying to me, ya asshole!" Hiyori shouted, but all she got in return was a laugh as Héctor tore open a _garganta_ and stepped through it, on his way back to what he hoped would be a warm welcome in Soul Society.

* * *

"How much longer do you expect us to wait on you, Byakuya?" Komamura growled as the small but powerful group of Captains gathered in a hidden room deep within the re-built Kuchiki Manor. "You promised us you would have found enough evidence to move for a vote of no-confidence months ago!"

"I must admit that I agree with Sajin, Byakuya," Yumichika chimed in. "How much time do you need to uncover the necessary proof that Unohana is unfit to serve as Captain Commander?"

"We cannot afford to make a move of this magnitude lightly, my friends," Kuchiki rebutted sternly. "Remember that Unohana is still beloved by some of our colleagues, Shunsui Kyoraku and Inoue Orihime among them."

"To say nothing of Kaien Shiba," Renji added. "Rukia's always had a soft spot for him; I doubt she'd stand against him if it came down to it."

"You're sleeping with her, aren't you?" Matsumoto parried pointedly. "Keep her in check, Renji."

Renji snarled at the provocation, but Kira's hand on his arm stifled his anger before it got the better of him.

"From what I can tell," the Third Division Captain spoke, his voice stoic as always, "the only Captains not firmly on our side are Shiba, Orihime, Kyoraku, Soi Fon and Ukitake."

"There's one thing that still worries me, though," Hisagi broke in, wearing the _haori_ of the Ninth Division. "What of Kisuke Urahara?"

"You haven't told him, Captain?" Renji asked his superior, and Byakuya smiled.

"No, Renji; it had slipped my mind. Kisuke Urahara is no one we need to concern our thoughts with, Captain. He is my mole in the Human World, placed there to keep an eye on the hybrids we call the Vizards."

"And you're sure he can be trusted?"

"Of course, Hisagi; I am sure. The Vizards were Urahara's creation, after all: he views it as his personal responsibility to remedy his mistake when the time comes."

Hisagi nodded once, and Byakuya delivered the secret meeting's closing remarks.

"Do not worry about the leverage over Unohana," he reassured his fellow conspirators. "I have had my agents following her movements quite closely, and there is certainly something she desires to keep hidden. If it is of the magnitude I believe it to be, all of the Captains who are on the fence regarding the Captain Commander's impeachment will swing over to our side at once."

The group had dispersed in silence to return to the Seireitei shortly after Byakuya had declared the meeting adjourned, splitting up and traveling by different roads to avoid arousing suspicion. Byakuya himself was walking calmly back to the headquarters of the Sixth Division with his Lieutenant in tow when a high-pitched, whining sound reached their ears that neither of them had heard in decades.

A _garganta_ was being torn open. Looking over, both of the Shinigami's faces became suffused with shock as they saw how near to them it was.

"What should we do, Captain?" Renji asked, and Byakuya recovered without missing a beat.

"This may turn out to be quite the opportunity for us, Renji. Come with me."

"Yes, sir!"

The two Shinigami from the Sixth Division were the first to arrive in front of the _garganta_, and Byakuya wasted no time in firing off the opening attack.

"_Scatter,_ _Senbonzakura_."

"Wait, Byakuya!" Soi Fon's voice called out in a panicked shout as the Captain of the Second Division emerged in a burst of _shunpo_. "Don't—"

But it was too late to stop the stream of blades from rushing into the rift, cold steel lent a deceptively warm shade of pink by the midday sun. A few seconds later a sharp spike of reiatsu was felt from within the _garganta_, and the attack was rebuffed completely as the shards of Senbonzakura were sent flying back out of the fissure.

"I'm not gonna say that I don't understand that reaction," an annoyed voice spoke out from the tear, getting louder and louder as its owner moved closer to the opening, "but don't you think you should at least wait to see _who_ it is you're attacking?" Héctor finished as he finally reached the end of the tunnel, smiling despite his fresh and considerable wounds as he saw who had come to greet him.

"Hey, Mom," he said with a smirk, as if breaking right into the heart of Soul Society via a _garganta_ was perfectly normal. "Guess I should've called ahead, huh?"

"God damn it, Héctor," she growled, fighting hard to keep her happiness at seeing her son again for the first time in so long out of her voice, "this isn't a joke. Get over to Fourth and have them patch you up before I drag you there myself."

"I missed you too," Héctor replied with an affectionate smirk, before disappearing in a burst of _shunpo_. As soon as her child had vanished, Soi Fon turned her iron glare on Byakuya.

"What the hell was that, Kuchiki?" she snapped. "You don't think you could have waited for visual confirmation on your target before acting?"

"If that had been an Espada, Captain," Byakuya replied coldly, turning away and sheathing a recomposed Senbonzakura, "one or both of us would probably have been dead by the time I'd gotten 'visual confirmation'. So save your lectures for someone else, unless you'd rather I call for an evaluation of your fitness to perform your duties. I doubt I'm the only person in the Seireitei who thinks your… _situation_ is clouding your priorities."

Kuchiki and his lieutenant vanished as soon as the parting shot was finished, leaving Soi Fon alone in the clearing to stew in anger.

* * *

Matsumoto had thought that paperwork was just the thing she needed to take her mind off of Byakuya's skulduggery, but all it took was one little note from Captain Commander Unohana to throw her mood into utter disorder once again. A little scribble on a piece of parchment letting Matsumoto know that her bastard daughter was doing quite well.

As if she cared at all about Amara.

The more and more that she'd thought back on that night almost three decades ago, the more Matsumoto realized that Gin had actually been serious. He'd told her flat-out that he loved her, and always had. For once, his mask had dropped completely.

And she had quite literally spat in his face, calling him a fucking liar and many things besides. And for several days after that, she had felt vindicated at long last; a gaping wound in her past had finally been given closure. But then had come the morning sickness, and with it the chilling realization that Gin Ichimaru had left his oldest, dearest friend one last memento.

At first, Matsumoto had been beyond terrified. She was someone who had always lived her life in the moment, enjoying every night like it might have been her last because one of those nights _was_ going to be her last. The very mention of the word 'responsibility' had caused her to recoil in horror whenever Captain Hitsugaya had wielded it in conversation like a large, dangerous weapon, and now Matsumoto was going to be responsible for another life. A child. Gin's child.

_Her_ child.

She had never thought about aborting it, but at the same time the thought of wholly devoting herself to the care of a growing infant seemed even more daunting a challenge than it had been deciphering Gin's emotions back when they had been children. But then Byakuya Kuchiki of all people had come to her with a suggestion: assume Captaincy of the Tenth Division, in the place of her deceased superior. At the time, the choice seemed simple enough; it was a matter of weighing two wholly different responsibilities against each other, the soul-numbing yet familiar grind of a Captain's daily life or the huge, unknown prospect of caring for her bastard offspring.

Byakuya had given her a way out. The Captain's Examination, however, was not something that she had any desire to handle while pregnant, which gave Matsumoto nine months at the most to consider her options. Nine months she had wound up spending in a tumultuous battle with her own blossoming maternal instincts, squashing them without hesitation one moment only to find herself being enticed by the possibility of having a child to call her very own the next.

Shaking her head abruptly to bring herself back to the present before she got too wrapped up in pointless memories, Matsumoto used a small flare of _kido_ to incinerate Captain Commander Unohana's letter. She then reached with her other hand into her desk drawer and pulled out a bottle of sake without even looking for it, taking a swig from the bottle and closing her eyes with a sigh as the burning liquid raced through her veins and dulled the ache that had sprung up in her heart.

* * *

Amara had decided to be productive with the rest of her afternoon rather than trying to get some sliver of rest and failing, so after popping a quick energy pill the Third Seat found herself once again doing the rounds in Fourth Division. As she heard the obnoxious voice of the Lieutenant, Daisuke, ricocheting off the walls, Amara cringed and ducked into the nearest open room; the last thing she needed right now was to be subjected to another round of his asinine harassment.

"What can I do for y—" she began, only to have her words cut off by surprise as she got a good look at the cuts on her patient.

"Holy shit," she breathed, "what did you do to yourself?"

"Me?" the patient parried with a raised eyebrow, his sharp blue eyes bright with a mix of amusement and slight annoyance. "I didn't do jack to myself. Byakuya was the asshole who did this to me; I was just trying to get into the Seireitei."

That retort was enough to shock Amara into silence. Not only did this kid have the guts to refer to Captain Kuchiki by his first name and call him an asshole, but he had been bold enough to try and break into the Seireitei itself. And from the looks of things he wasn't that much older than her, yet his reiatsu was clearly of considerable strength, at least Lieutenant-level if not higher.

"Who _are_ you?" she asked at last, but the patient just smirked.

"How's about you do your job and patch me up, and then we'll talk? Using my reiatsu to stop the blood flow is a pain in the ass."

The pointed reply was enough to bring Amara fully out of her surprise. Her training took over as she moved forward quickly and began to examine her patient's injuries, healing them with _kido_ as she went.

"So," she said after a moment, her confidence resurgent as she put the finishing touches on closing up a particular nasty gash, "you didn't answer my question earlier, smartass."

Héctor smiled to himself, pleased that he'd stumbled across a woman with some spine after 25 years of nothing but cloying humans.

"You gonna stop treating me if I don't?" he shot back, challenging her. Amara let her hands hover over the next wound, but made no effort to mend it.

"I just might," she replied, and Héctor's internal smile showed itself on his face.

"My name's Héctor," he said, "Héctor Jaegerjaques. What's yours?"

"Amara; just Amara. Jaegerjaques, huh?" the Shinigami continued, looking at Héctor's face again with narrowed gray-blue eyes. "I guess that makes you Captain Soi Fon's son, then?"

His looks, however, she noted with approval, had come from his father first and foremost.

"That it does," Héctor replied easily, taking a closer look at his healer. She was definitely not lacking in looks, but it was her steely, tightly-controlled reiatsu that interested the Vizard much more than her other attributes. And yet there was no doubt that she was hiding something of herself on purpose; during the War against Aizen all of those years ago, Héctor had known Lieutenants with less presence than her. So why wasn't she wearing an armband?

"Okay, Héctor," Amara spoke gently, lifting the Vizard out of his thoughts, "I think we're done here."

Looking down quickly at the places where Senbonzakura had cut into him and seeing nothing but whole flesh, Héctor shook his head briefly to clear it and pushed himself off of the table he had been sitting on. Snatching up his zanpakuto from a nearby chair, he strode towards the door and was about to walk through it when Amara's voice stopped him cold, sounding decidedly less gentle than it had a moment ago.

"What," she asked, her tone harder but carrying an edge of teasing to it, causing Héctor to flash a small smirk that Amara couldn't see, "I don't get a 'Thank you'?"

"You think you deserve one?" the Vizard shot back, not even turning around.

"Excuse me?" the Shinigami replied, indignant. "What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"I just don't think anyone strong enough to be a Division's Lieutenant who chooses to rot in a menial post instead deserves to be thanked or praised by anyone."

Not even giving the Third Seat a chance to reply, Héctor walked through the door and slid it closed behind him. Amara could only stand there, her mouth half-open while her gray-blue eyes widened in shock before narrowing in rage. The temerity of that… that _asshole_, to just come right out and say something that disrespectful after she'd done such a good job healing him!

"He's right, though, child."

The clear, powerful voice of her zanpakuto spirit drew a sigh from Amara, and she turned slowly to face the lioness sitting in the corner of the room, its blue eyes piercing and framed by uniformly dark gray fur.

"You're not helping," the Shinigami grumbled, and her spirit chuckled.

"Yes I am," she parried, "and you know it. The boy's right; you're gaining nothing by letting that worm Daisuke make your life miserable when you could just as easily challenge him for his seat and take it."

"And then what?" Amara growled back, growing more and more infuriated as she realized her counter-arguments were utterly ineffectual. "That won't stop Daisuke from making my life miserable regardless, and if anything that'll just make him more vindictive. And if he ever found out who my father was, who knows what would happen then?"

"Tell me what would happen, child," the spirit pressed. "So they find out your father was Gin Ichimaru. What of it? You cannot be held accountable for the sins of your parents, Amara."

The thoroughly flummoxed Shinigami was about to rebut again when words outside in the hallway grabbed her attention, and Amara went to go open the door as the gray lioness behind her faded back into nothingness.

"I believe I told you to apologize to me, you piece of shit," Daisuke's voice rumbled down the hall, and Amara looked out at the scene just in time to see Héctor smirk in a way that sent a chill running down her spine in a manner that wasn't entirely unpleasant.

"Apologize for what?" he shot back. "Bumping in to you? It's kinda hard to avoid that when you're so fucking fat that you take up more than half the hallway."

"You son of a bitch—" the Lieutenant began, only to have all of the breath suddenly pushed from his lungs by a burst of reiatsu that was far above Lieutenant strength.

"What was that?" Héctor asked, all mirth gone from his voice and replaced by icy anger. "I don't think I heard you quite right just then, Lieutenant, because I believe I heard you call my mother a bitch."

"I can assure you, Héctor," a new voice broke in from down the hall, "that the Lieutenant spoke out of anger, and did not mean what he said."

The Vizard clenched his teeth and didn't move for a few heartbeats, but then relaxed and withdrew the pressure of his reiatsu. Amara had managed to stay on her feet through sheer willpower alone, but her knees were still buckling.

"For his sake, Captain Orihime," Héctor replied coldly, "I hope you're right."

"Only back for a couple of hours and already causing trouble, I see," Orihime said with a smile, her tone much softer now than it had been just seconds ago. "That's good; I see there are at least some things that never change."

Héctor smiled and chuckled lightly at that, and Orihime turned an icy look back to her Lieutenant.

"You should be grateful, Daisuke," she spoke sternly, "that you are still in possession of all of your limbs right now. It would be a shame to have to replace you so soon after your appointment to the post, don't you agree?"

"Not at all," Héctor broke in, ignoring the death-glare that Daisuke gave him as Orihime turned back to face the Vizard. "I've already met someone today who could take his place in a heartbeat, actually," he finished, his sharp blue eyes boring deep into Amara's own gray-blue orbs.

"Sorry for the trouble, Captain," he apologized quickly, before turning around, walking briskly down the hallway and turning the corner, vanishing from sight.

"As you were," Orihime said crisply to the lingering members of Fourth Division who were still standing there stock-still in the hallway, and the Captain's words shocked her subordinates back into the present. As they scurried back to their duties, Orihime saw that Daisuke was doing little more than shooting Amara a dirty look and spoke again to her Lieutenant.

"That includes you, Lieutenant," she pressed, and Daisuke gave a formal half-bow before walking the rest of the way down the hall. Orihime looked after him with worry; she was really going to have to do something about that man before he did something reprehensible. If only he wasn't so capable, or if Amara could just be convinced to challenge him for the post… but Héctor had been right; that choice was ultimately Amara's to make, and no one else's.

The Captain blinked away from her thoughts and turned to say something to her Third Seat, but Amara was already out of sight.

* * *

Ulquiorra Schiffer looked up expectantly at the full moon hanging over Hueco Mundo, as if he were looking for some kind of answer from it. The dim orb held no such consolation, though, and after a few moments Ulquiorra sighed and walked on. There was a small grouping of rocks he could see out in the distance; that was surely a cave, and where he would find shelter for the night.

"I'm sure Las Noches would be much more comfortable," a light, teasing voice spoke up from behind him. "Remind me why you won't go there, again?"

"You know the answer to that question already," Ulquiorra replied stoically without even turning around. "Apart from being a figment of my own guilt, Nel, I've told you three times before."

"But I like hearing you say it," the image of Neliel persisted, a glint in her pale golden eyes that Ulquiorra could hear clearly even if he couldn't see it. "Indulge me."

"I'm trying to start over, and forget all of that," the former Espada repeated dully, a mantra he'd told himself countless times.

"But you're still bitter at Barragan for having rotted away your precious tattoo, aren't you?" Neliel pressed, and Ulquiorra's jaw clenched at the provocation.

"Not to mention that you're still carrying around my old zanpakuto," the phantom continued, appearing right behind Ulquiorra and wrapping her arms around his waist, resting one of her hands on the hilt of Gamuza and the other on Murciélago, which were being worn like a samurai's pair of swords,

"And your guilt is still so strong that you're visualizing your dead lover," she finished, placing her mouth right by Ulquiorra's ear and whispering sultrily.

"Why can't you let me go?"

By the time the shiver had lanced down and back up the former Espada's spine the phantom Neliel had vanished once again, her torment apparently done for the night.

"Stop asking questions you already know the answer to," Ulquiorra said softly, regret lacing every word. He then closed his mouth and didn't open it again until he was under the protective roof of the cave, breathing in and out in dreamless sleep.

Several paces off from the rocks, a figure was crouched and hovering in the air, his slim black ponytail snapping behind him in the strong wind.

"Finally found you," Ggio Vega said coldly, before vanishing in a buzz of _sonido_.

Maybe now, after hunting down his last great enemy and killing him, Barragan would stop acting like such a huge asshole. Ever since the former _Cuatra_ Espada had struck out on his own away from Las Noches in defiance of the truce, he'd been acting less like a benevolent dictator and more like a raging despot. But Ggio felt like sometimes he was the only one who saw his master for the changed man he had become; the other _fraccion_ were still blind in their devotion towards Barragan.

Ggio was almost sorry that Ulquiorra had to die for some small measure of peace to return to the _fraccion's_ life, but that was the way of things: the weak perished before the strong.

* * *

…………………

………………………

**A/N: **And there you have it, Chapter 1! Hope you enjoyed it, and please don't hesitate to **review** if you did. Or even if you didn't, review anyway; I really love getting feedback from you guys. Also, big ups to **JasoTheArtisan** and **MatsuMama** for beta'ing this chapter; go read their stories, they're all quality.

And just to repeat for those who might have forgotten, this is going to be a short(er) story that will lead into the longer, 'main' sequel to Torn. Think of it less like a sequel, and more like the second part of a trilogy.


	2. Tipping Point

**Triumph**

**Chapter 2: **Tipping Point

* * *

Shiro looked down at his empty cup balefully, feeling the small weight of the meager number of coins in his pockets and getting angry that he hadn't even worked up a good buzz yet. So much for the night.

"Yo, Shiro."

"What do you want," the Hollow asked as he turned his black-and-yellow eyes to face his visitor, "Renji?"

"Nothing, really," the Sixth Division's Lieutenant replied casually. "I'm just here to deliver a message: Captain Kuchiki would like to have you over for dinner tonight, at the Manor."

"All these years, and you're still Byakuya's little messenger boy, Renji?" Shiro jibed, smiling as he saw the Shinigami flinch. "I guess I gave you too much credit back in the War for surviving as long as you did."

"You motherfucker—" Renji began, clenching his hand around the grip of Zabimaru and beginning to draw it, only to have his action stopped by the Hollow's harsh laughter.

"Jeezus, I was just screwin' with ya, Abarai. What does Byakuya want from me?"

"Just to talk to you," the Lieutenant replied simply, but Shiro could tell from his voice that there were much bigger implications to this meeting than a little chat; Byakuya never wasted time, after all.

But still, intrigue was fine with Shiro, as long as the drinks were on the house. Rising, he narrowed his eyes mischievously and smiled.

"Lead the way."

* * *

He had always gotten the sense that there was a level of discontent among the high-ranking Shinigami regarding the truce Unohana had made with the remaining Arrancar, but even Shiro was surprised to see so many faces at the table. Captain Komamura from the Seventh Division was there, flanked by Yumichika and Matsumoto, the latter of whom now wore the _haori_ of the Tenth Division. Hisagi and Kira, Captains of the Ninth and Third Divisions respectively, were present as well, and rounding out the powerful assembly was Byakuya Kuchiki himself, Captain of the Sixth Division.

"You sure have been busy, Byakuya," the Hollow remarked, impressed, as he took his seat and Renji sat down to the right of his Captain. "Does Unohana know about your little brewing insurrection?"

"Of course not," Kuchiki parried calmly. "The Captain Commander is far too preoccupied with rebuilding the power of Seireitei to worry about the possibility of rebellion."

"Of course," the Hollow replied with equal calmness, totally unmoved by Byakuya's blatant show of force. "So, my question to you is, if you have so many people behind you, why not move now? And why drag me in to this?"

"Because numbers do not necessarily equal power, Shiro," Byakuya answered as his steely eyes flickered in the dim candlelight of the room. "Even though several stand with me, there are many who do not, and it would be foolish to disregard their strength. Yet all the same, they are obstacles; obstacles that I will see removed."

Shiro's face split open in a wide grin as he realized where the conversation was going, and he took a long pull on his drink before speaking again.

"Then tell me, Byakuya," he said, "what's the going price on a _haori_ these days?"

A cold smile tugged at the edge of the Captain's mouth, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared.

"The head of Kaien Shiba."

The macabre answer drew a laugh from Shiro, but when it had subsided and he broke the heavy silence, the Hollow wasn't looking at Byakuya. Instead, his black and yellow eyes had found a new target in Renji Abarai.

"You know this is going to break her heart, don'tcha?" he said with gleeful malevolence, but Renji said nothing in reply. The Lieutenant's only response was to lower his head in shame, an action that was quickly overshadowed by Byakuya's next words.

"But that's not all," he continued. "I need you to keep an eye on Unohana, and find something we might be able to use as leverage against her."

Shiro's smile shifted to a smirk, his eyes blazing in the light.

"Fine," he agreed after a moment, "but I want your assurance about something in return, Kuchiki."

"What?"

"That after you pull off this little coup of yours, you don't throw me into a jail cell with the rest of the malcontents."

Byakuya's eyes narrowed slightly at the demand.

"And what makes you think I would do such a thing?"

"Are you seriously making a bargain with this Hollow, Kuchiki!?" Komamura's growling voice broke in angrily. "_This_ is the best plan you can think of? He's totally untrustworthy!"

The Captain of Sixth Division silenced Komamura with a quick glance, before turning his attention back to an intolerably smug-looking Shiro.

"I see your point," Byakuya admitted after a moment. "Very well. Remove Kaien Shiba from his position as Captain of the Fifth Division and find me some chink in Unohana's armor, and Shiba's Division will pass into your hands."

"The Fifth, huh?" Shiro said speculatively, drawing out his final decision a bit longer just to grate with Komamura a tad more. "You know, there're some people who think that _haori's_ got a curse on it, after what happened to Hirako and then to Aizen.

"But fortunately for you, Kuchiki," he finished, draining his cup, "I'm not a superstitious man. I'll give you your coup, as long as I get what's mine in return."

"And you will," Byakuya insisted calmly. "Have no doubts about that."

Shiro nodded shortly, rose and left, leaving the conspirators alone in the room.

"Do you really think he can be controlled, Byakuya?" Kira asked, and the Captain nodded.

"There is nothing simpler to keep in check than a beast that desires to prove itself, Kira. Give it a purpose, and it will eat from the palm of your hand.

"Besides, no matter how thick a cloak of humanity Shiro casts over himself, underneath it he is still, and will always be, nothing more complex than a Hollow. Arrancar might have reunited with their humanity, but Shiro is still a creature of pure instincts, and nothing more. As I said, as long as we give him an outlet for those instincts, the odds of him ever betraying us are minimal."

"I just hope you're right, Kuchiki," HIsagi spoke, finishing his meal and rising as the rest of the company soon followed suit and left the Manor for the night. Only Matsumoto lingered behind, turning back to face Byakuya after a moment.

"Can I ask you a question?" she said, and her fellow Captain gave a distracted nod.

"What was the vision Aizen showed you with the _Kyoka Suigetsu_?" Matsumoto asked, continuing hurriedly when she saw the stark change on Byakuya's face, his expression snapping from distracted to sharply focused and more than a little angered.

"I don't mean to pry," she assured him, "I just… look, I know why the other Captains are behind this, but I can't figure out why it is that you're pushing yourself so hard. And if you're going to be Captain Commander after the dust settles, I'd at least like to know what's driving you. That's all."

Byakuya didn't speak for several moments, but when he did his voice was considerably more open than it had been during the meeting earlier, albeit also carrying an extra edge of bitterness to it.

"I had a family," he said slowly. "Hisana was still alive, and we had a family. For twenty years I lived in that world, and then Aizen died and took it with him. And for that injustice against me, against almost all of us, what was Unohana's chosen retribution? To clasp hands with those who made up Aizen's war machine, and ignore the vengeance that was rightfully entitled to us.

"But what about you, Rangiku?" Byakuya parried back at her. "Of all the people I count among my allies, you have the strongest ties to Unohana; after all, she is the one caring for your child. So why would you turn against her?"

"Because you're not the only one Aizen ever took anything from, Kuchiki," Matsumoto answered pointedly, before walking the rest of the way out of the room and leaving Byakuya alone with his thoughts. A few moments later a man clothed in black flashed into the room by his side, speaking a few words into his master's ear. Byakuya's eyes widened in surprise at the news, scarcely believing it even though it had come from one of his most trusted spies.

"You're absolutely sure that report is valid?" he demanded, and the spy gave a solemn nod.

"And where is he now?"

"He was last spotted by Tosho in Kushajishi earlier tonight; I doubt he's moved far since then."

"You can never make assumptions with someone like him, Aoro," Byakuya replied as calmly as he could, even while the first surge of happiness he'd felt in ages rose up within him.

"Bring me my sword, and the shard of _sekki-sekki_ stone from the reliquary."

"At once, my lord," the spy said and vanished. A grin slowly split the Kuchiki lord's face, and he smiled.

He just hoped his prey hadn't kept up their swordplay since the War had come to a close.

* * *

Amara twisted and spun with grace that seemed to befit a dancer moreso than a medic, the sound of her zanpakuto's blade as it whistled through the air providing a beat for the sharp cadence of her movements. Héctor's earlier words had stirred something in her, and as the need to prove to herself that she wasn't losing her edge had become stronger and stronger eventually Amara had snapped. Taking up her zanpakuto, she had walked out into the training fields under the moon for some long-overdue practice.

Her zanpakuto seemed to be enjoying itself as well as its steel sang out into the clear night, and the two of them moved in harmony for several minutes of unbroken _kata_ until the cycle was finally brought to its natural conclusion and Amara ceased her movements with practiced grace. The Shinigami noted with pleasure that her breathing was only slightly accelerated, despite the intense routine.

"Not bad," a voice broke in, disturbing the silence that had fallen over the field. "Not bad at all."

Amara's head whipped around at the sound, her mouth tightening into a frown when she saw who it was that had intruded on her solitude.

"What the hell are you doing here, Héctor?" she spat, and the young man simply smirked at her in a way that was at once inviting and decidedly predatory.

"Just satisfying my curiosity, that's all," he replied easily, leisurely closing the space between them with deliberate steps and putting Amara on the defensive.

"Well, is it satisfied?" she asked, mentally cringing at how simple she had made it for him to assume the dominant position in the conversation. What was it about this kid that made him so insufferably, magnetically cocky?

_You seem to forget his parentage, child,_ the lightly teasing voice of her zanpakuto chimed in, and Amara was quick to squash it. Héctor picked up on her misstep without missing a beat, the smile that grew slowly on his face practically bleeding confidence that bordered on arrogance but never quite crossed the line.

"You could say that, yeah," he answered, continuing to move forward and drinking in the defined curves of the Shinigami's figure. "I knew you were hiding something, Amara. So, tell me—"

Héctor's words were abruptly cut off by the cold feeling of a sword's edge pressed against his throat.

"No," Amara hissed, "_you're_ going to tell _me_ just what the fuck you want, and do it quickly before I decide you'd be more fun to have around without your vocal chords intact."

"So, the healer's got fangs after all," the Vizard said with amusement dripping from his voice, as if the edge of a blade was no more threatening to him than a mosquito.

"Now we're really getting somewhere."

Amara barely had time to draw in a breath before Héctor had vanished, and the next words she heard made her heart rate spike instantly.

"_Hado number 4: Byakurai."_

A quick dodge turned what would have been a disabling strike through her shoulder into nothing more than a singed sleeve, and when Amara spun to face her impromptu sparring partner with a look of rage in her eyes, all she got in return was that damned smirk.

"What the hell is your problem, you asshole?" she seethed. "That could've gone right through my shoulder!"

"Maybe it could have, true," Héctor began offhandedly, before vanishing again with a whisper,

"But we both know it wouldn't have," he finished, his face suddenly no more than six inches from hers, "and that's the point."

Amara said nothing, letting her instincts speak for her as her zanpakuto lashed out at the Vizard. Héctor jumped back quickly, but not before a thin cut had been etched across his chest.

"Huh," Héctor said as he pressed two fingers to his wound, holding them up in the moonlight to behold the red liquid that now clung to them. "Been a while since someone made me bleed without me letting them, kid," he mused. "So why the hell aren't you a Lieutenant, again?"

"Why do you even care?" Amara shouted back, finally snapping. "Why does it matter to you what rank I am? You don't even know me!"

"I know the look of someone who's holding themselves back when they don't want to," the Vizard parried, his tone shifting down to a level that was decidedly more edged than his normal, cocky way of talking. "I know because I used to be that way, and it was hell. But I didn't have a choice. You do, and it pisses me off that you're still hobbling yourself voluntarily!"

Amara let the weight of the words settle over her, her shoulders shifting into a more pure battle stance as her feet reflexively followed suit.

"Don't talk like you know who I am, you piece of shit," she said, her voice now utterly devoid of anger and instead replete with cold, ruthless killing intent. "Keep running your mouth like you are and I'll cut your goddamn head off."

"As if you could," Héctor shot back scornfully, his hand moving over to clench the grip of his own zanpakuto. "And by the way," he finished, the spite in his tone rising, "I know exactly who you are…

"Amara Ichimaru."

Amara's gray-blue eyes widened in horrified disbelief as Héctor went for the jugular, and by the time she regained her senses he was nowhere to be seen.

"All the reiatsu manipulation in the world can't hide instincts," the Vizard's hard voice came from her left, and the Shinigami had barely locked eyes with him when she felt a sharp pain lance down her arm. Amara hadn't even seen Héctor draw, and yet somehow he had completed an attack and re-sheathed his blade with such fluidity as for it to seem instantaneous.

"_Iaijutsu_?" she asked as calmly as she could, ignoring the light pain racing up and down her arm. He'd made the cut shallow on purpose… the bastard was just playing with her!

"Yeah," Héctor replied with a glint in his eye. "Nice reflexes, to be able to follow that strike at all. Like I said, your instincts give you away, Ichimaru—"

"Shut up!" Amara shouted, emitting a surge of raw reiatsu that forced her opponent to back off to a few paces away with a quick _shunpo_.

"Your temper, though," Héctor observed, "you definitely get from your mother."

"That woman is not my mother," the Shinigami hissed, and Héctor's confidence ebbed slightly as he saw from Amara's change in expression that he'd struck a major nerve.

"Enough of this," she continued, holding her zanpakuto out in front of her and squaring her shoulders. "I don't care what you thought you saw in me, but trust me when I say we have _nothing_ in common. For starters, you're a filthy hybrid," she spat, putting emphasis on the last word as though it was poisonous to even utter it.

"Ouch," Héctor replied as nonchalantly as he could, but hearing something like that again after so long in the company of others like him was certainly a rude awakening, and he had to fight not to flinch. "But I guess you have a point; it's not like my father used to serve under Sosuke Aizen just like yours did… oh wait, that's right," he finished, eyes narrowing to icy clue slits,

"He did."

Not wanting to give her enemy any more chances to draw parallels between them, Amara decided to bring this fight to a close.

"_Spring, Kousho_!"

The zanpakuto in her hands glowed as it was released, and when the light faded the _katana_ had changed into a straight-edged _jian_.

"You're finished," she hissed, whipping her sword around in a smooth arc as light leapt from the tip of the blade, rushing forward in a crescent shape towards Héctor. He rolled sharply out of the way to avoid the attack, but when the Vizard sprang to his feet Amara was nowhere to be seen.

"Looking for me?"

He spun around and expected to see the source of the taunt, but Héctor's eyes beheld nothing but air.

"What's wrong, little Vizard?" her sharp voice spoke out again. "Can't you see me?"

A sharp pain shot down his arm a second later, a harsh reflection of the blow Héctor had given Amara moments earlier. His Inner Hollow roared with anger at the provocation, but Héctor kept it in check; he was trying to enlighten the Shinigami, not murder her.

"My _Kousho_ allows me to manipulate the light around me as I see fit," Amara's voice broke in again, sounding not more than a few feet away from him, at most."As long as I use it to hide myself from sight, you don't have a prayer."

There were several more jolts of pain, and the Vizard soon found the upper part of his kimono reduced to little more than shreds by the Shinigami's blade as lines of blood appeared across his chest.

"Just give up now, and I'll make it quick."

"Didn't anyone ever tell you," Héctor replied through grit teeth as he tried to track down the source of her voice, "that it's idiotic to reveal the powers of your weapon to an enemy in the middle of combat? _Hado number 6: Mizu Ohi!_"

A large wave of water materialized in thin air as the spell was completed, crashing down on the area around the Vizard. The sheen of droplets that landed on Amara lasted only for a few seconds before she shook them off, but that was all the time Héctor needed to ferret out his tenacious opponent.

"_Bakudo number 63: Sajo Sabaku!"_

The golden chains quickly wound their way around Amara, holding her in place despite her invisibility.

"You'd have to be a filthy hybrid like me to even have a shot at breaking out of that," Héctor said sternly as he walked towards her. "Give it up; you've lost."

A few moments later Amara flickered back into view, but the Vizard noticed that her long black hair had been returned to its true shade of silver by his _Mizu Ohi_. The sight of it shining softly in the moonlight as it framed her eyes, still blazing with defiance, almost caused Héctor's stride to hitch as he continued to approach her. By the time he was within arms-length of her, the anger his Inner Hollow had been feeling had been replaced by something else entirely, a feeling that Héctor had much less of a desire to repress. Reaching out slowly, Héctor brushed a strand of hair out of Amara's face before moving forward the rest of the way and capturing her lips in a kiss.

She was initially taken aback by the intensity of the kiss, but as the chains of the _bakudo_ fell to pieces and her instinct took over for her again, Amara felt her arms snaking around Héctor's waist and pulling him in closer. It had been too long since she'd had any kind of intimate contact, and her body's happiness over having finally found a partner who could keep up with her trumped any weak objections her mind put forward. He was strong-willed and was clearly used to conquering any and all obstacles with relative ease, but Amara decided she was going to make him work for this.

Breaking apart from him before she caved completely, the Shinigami shot the Vizard the crippling 'come-hither' look she'd inherited from her mother and vanished, leaving just enough reiatsu behind for him to follow. Héctor smiled gamely and did just that, keeping one hand near the grip of his zanpakuto in case Amara had any more tricks up her sleeve. He caught up to her some moments later, lunging forward and reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder…

Only to end up grasping nothing but air.

"What the hell?" he exclaimed as the image vanished completely, before he realized what was going on; as realization dawned on him, Héctor's eyebrows knit themselves into a rare frown.

"Holograms, huh?" he spoke out into the clearing, knowing that the fox he was chasing after was probably looking right at him and laughing her ass off. "Real clever, Amara. But we both know you're going to crack first; admit it."

"How do you figure that?" her voice floated over to him, the light and teasing tone a vast improvement over her earlier venom. Héctor smirked, preparing himself for the reaction that was sure to come after he spoke.

"Only people who're desperate kiss like you did back there," he taunted. Amara played right into his hands, appearing heartbeats later in a flash of _shunpo_ and thrusting out with _Kousho's_ blade. Twisting to the side, Héctor drew on his Hollow powers to create a layer of _hierro_ around his hand before grabbing hold of Amara's zanpakuto. He let her momentum do the rest of the work, and soon enough his hand was resting up against the sword's guard while his face was close enough to Amara's that he could see himself reflected in her eyes.

"Like I said," he spoke smugly after a tense moment had passed between them, "you cracked first."

The Vizard moved forward again, but right before he would have made contact the Shinigami disappeared once more, Héctor almost losing his balance completely as he fell through the space that he thought had been occupied by a solid body.

"God _damn_ it!" he snarled, his Inner Hollow letting loose with a string of curses that would have made Grimmjow blush. When he finally found her, Héctor swore, he was going to make sure she would be the one chasing after him from here on out.

"Sounds to me like you're cracking over there, Héctor," Amara called out, her gleefully sadistic tone doing her last name proud.

The Vizard didn't reply with anything beyond a slightly feral-sounding snarl, materializing his mask over his face with a thought. Unleashing the full power of his Inner Hollow, Héctor had sniffed out Amara's exact location in seconds before vanishing in a frighteningly quick flash of _shunpo_, appearing right in front of her and chuckling shortly as his black-and-yellow eyes narrowed in lust and hunger.

"Gotcha," he hissed, the word all but cutting the Shinigami's legs out from under her. The mask broke apart as Héctor placed one hand on the back of her head, but the last things Amara saw as he pulled her into another kiss were his eyes, still black and yellow with the mark of his Inner Hollow's influence. The restrained intensity of his first embrace had been supplanted this time by sheer power, ripping down the Shinigami's defenses with impunity. Amara was relieved to feel the kiss lessen in strength and grow more tender as Héctor re-asserted his influence over his Hollow; she honestly didn't know how much more of that she could have taken. The Vizard hissed sharply and broke the kiss as Amara's fingernails raked lightly over the cuts she had given him across his chest, his now-blue eyes narrowing in paradoxical pleasure-pain at the action.

The Shinigami pressed her advantage, rejoining the embrace and assuming the dominant position. Héctor let himself coast for a few moments as his partner took the lead; he used the time to strip away the pesky layers of clothing Amara was still wearing above her waist, despite having torn his to ribbons earlier. Guiding the Shinigami in his arms until her back was resting up against a tree, Héctor broke apart the kiss and began to lay down a line of teasingly light kisses going from Amara's collarbone down to her left breast, smiling to himself in complete victory as he felt her shudder and heard her moan above him.

A few more moments of coaxing had pushed Amara past her limit; she shoved Héctor down to the grass and straddled him, sighing in satisfaction as they were joined at last. Héctor could only look up in silent awe at the young woman above him as she moved with spellbinding grace and power, wondering in the back of his mind just what exactly he'd set free inside her psyche. But all of the tension that had coiled in the pit of his stomach reached the breaking point a few minutes later, obliterating all conscious thought in his head as both he and Amara reached the edge of their self-control and happily left it behind them.

Amara sank slowly down to rest on top of her partner, laying her head next to his and just listening to the sound of Héctor's ragged, yet oddly peaceful breathing for several moments.

"Sorry I called you a filthy hybrid earlier," she apologized softly after a moment, but the Vizard just chuckled.

"Don't sweat it," he replied easily. "After all, I'm the asshole who dredged up your most personal and sensitive secrets and threw them back in your face. So how about we just call it even and move on?"

"Deal," Amara agreed with a lazy smile a moment later, still reeling slightly from the afterglow of their coupling. "So," she pressed, "when're we going to do that again?"

Héctor had to fight to keep back a triumphant grin as he realized he finally had Amara right where he wanted her.

"When you win that Lieutenant's armband from that asshole," he said simply, and the Shinigami frowned petulantly in a way Héctor found strangely adorable.

"If I could move either of my arms right now," Amara said, "I'd bust up your jaw, but fortunately for you I can't." She sighed, clearly weighing the options in her head for a moment before coming to a decision.

"Fine," she acquiesced at last, "I'll do it. But I'm holding you to your promise, and if you don't keep it I'm going to carve your face off."

"Is it weird that I find it attractive that you could probably follow up on that threat?" Héctor quipped, and the pair was soon sending peals of laughter up to the stars.

* * *

Amara couldn't help but smile as she looked down at Héctor's sleeping face, his black hair falling messily over one eye and moving slightly in and out with every breath he took. It was absurd to think that this was the same person who had been so cocky, indomitable and overpowering the night before; now he just looked like a run-of-the-mill Shinigami recruit.

A recruit with a couple of cuts on his chest that were beginning to fester, Amara noticed with no small amount of guilt. She would have healed them the night before, but, well, getting her brains screwed out had kind of put a halt to that plan. Wanting to make up for it before the wounds turned into scars, she got to work on healing them as her patient slumbered on, his mouth curving up into a small smile.

Héctor woke up feeling oddly refreshed considering what he'd spent last night doing, but his buzz was dampened somewhat as he looked around and couldn't see Amara anywhere. Her reiatsu was also nowhere nearby, either; she'd just left. Then again, she did have duties to perform, and if she'd been late for those because of something like this, that might have been a hassle to explain away.

As he got up and stretched out languorously, Héctor looked down to see a piece of folded parchment resting on top of a fresh Shinigami uniform. Picking it up, he unfolded it gently and read the crisp, neat script.

"Dear Asshole," he began, smiling, "here's a clean uniform, to replace the one I ripped up last night. Tell anyone what happened, or about… well, you know… and I'll murder you in your sleep."

"Well, at least she's honest about it," Héctor mused as he shrugged on the _kimono_ and tied it off loosely. "That's gotta count for something."

The Vizard did one last sweep of the area to make sure he was alone, before vanishing from the field for good.

* * *

Kaien Shiba didn't mind being a Captain most of the time, in fact he relished the challenge, but there were moments like this one where the job just sucked. Being woken up before the roosters had even crowed to go check out a Hollow disturbance was bad enough, but when reports indicated that the reiatsu it was giving off was strong enough to be Espada-class, Kaien just knew that today was not going to be his day at all. But duty called and he was obliged to answer it, so the Captain of the Fifth Division soon found himself standing out in the middle of nowhere on the far outskirts of the Rukongai in the freezing cold, with a small detachment of men ready to face an Espada-level enemy that had apparently decided to ditch them at the last moment.

"You sure this isn't a drill, Captain?" the Third Seat piped up. "Or maybe Captain Ukitake's just pranking you again."

"Even if that is the case, don't let your guard down," the Lieutenant admonished the lower-ranking soldier. "For all we know, it's just waiting for a chance to stri—"

The Shinigami's words were cut off by a shrill screech as a thick wave of black-and-red reiatsu blasted into the clearing, engulfing him along with everyone else in the group save Kaien and one other Shinigami. As they watched in shock, the bodies of their comrades fell to the ground limply, dead before they hit the grass.

"Impossible," the Captain breathed out. "That's _Getsuga Tensho_!"

"Indeed it is, Captain," Shiro's scathing voice answered as the Hollow touched down in a flash of _shunpo_. "_Hado number 54: Haien._"

The other Shinigami didn't even have time to react before the concentrated flame slammed into his chest, reducing his ribcage and internal organs to nothing more than ashes and killing him instantly. Kaien's shock turned into rage and he rounded on Shiro, drawing _Nejibana_ as he did so.

"Damn you," he hissed. "What's the meaning of this?!"

"You don't need to know, Shiba," the Hollow hissed as he brought his _bankai's_ bone-white katana up and then down again, launching off another mammoth _Getsuga_.

"What you need to do right now is shut up and die."

* * *

…………………….

…………………………..

**A/N:** So, there's Chapter 2! Byakuya's motivation for the coup comes to light, and the gears of his plan start grinding to life. Hope it was enjoyable, and **please review**! Also, big ups to **JasoTheArtisan** as per ususal for beta'ing this chapter like the boss of all bosses; go read his stories, they're rock solid and deserve more reviews than they have.


	3. Crush The World Down

**Triumph**

**Chapter 3: **Crush The World Down

* * *

"You called for me, Captain Commander?"

Unohana sighed wearily, but her blue eyes softened nonetheless as Amara appeared in the threshold of the large, wrought-iron doors of the First Division.

"I did," she answered, motioning to the seat in front of her large desk. "Please, have a seat. And how many times do I have to tell you not to be so formal? I get enough of that from everyone else."

"I can't do that, Sir," Amara answered stubbornly. "If you excused me from standard responsibilities, it would be setting a bad example for everyone else."

The Captain Commander gave another small smile, reaching for the nearby teapot.

"Well, at least let me pour you your tea," she said, putting just enough force behind her voice to let her adopted daughter know that she wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. Amara smiled, but her gaze became concerned as she saw that Unohana's face was lined and showing signs of exhaustion, a worrying sight on a face that was normally utterly tranquil.

"Is everything all right?" she asked slowly, and the Captain Commander masked her expression by taking a sip of tea, placing her cup down gently before she spoke.

"I'm tired, Amara," Unohana said, turning her eyes to look out the window at the birds as they perched on the tree branches. "Rebuilding the Seireitei has been much harder than I, or anyone else had anticipated, and the revolts in the Rukongai pale in comparison to discontent within our own ranks."

"What do you mean, 'discontent'?" the younger Shinigami asked warily, but Unohana continued as if Amara had never spoken.

"He acts as if I do not know what he is up to," she spoke, a rare note of bitterness lacing her voice. "He believes that I am blind. But just as he is watching me, I have someone watching him."

"I'm afraid I don't follow you, Captain Commander," Amara broke in again hesitantly, and Unohana turned her eyes back to her and smiled.

"No," she answered. "the ramblings of the old are meant to be inscrutable to the young. But I didn't call you here to listen to that, I called you here because we haven't talked in some time, and I'd like to know how you are."

"Well, I'm thinking of challenging Lieutenant Daisuke for his post," Amara began, and Unohana had to fight to keep from smiling. She and Orihime had talked on more than one occasion about trying to get the young Shinigami to come into her own at last, and something finally seemed to have happened.

"I'm sure you'll succeed on that account," the Captain Commander spoke, before giving Amara a reproachful look. "Don't glare at me like that, child," she said. "I wouldn't dare belittle your strength by assuming to offer you aid, and you know that."

Amara lowered her head slightly in shame at the rebuke, a mild one from Unohana managing to hit as hard as a vicious one from anyone else.

"Of course," the younger Shinigami spoke after a moment. "Please excuse my impertinence, Captain Commander."

"Don't be ridiculous, child," Unohana parried. "I can imagine how much grief some of your colleagues must give you for your ties to me, and it is only natural for you to abhor the thought of favoritism in any form. Have you decided on the method of competition that will be used in the challenge?"

"I thought it would be best to let the Lieutenant choose," Amara answered. "Don't want to give that prick any chance to say I beat him unfairly," she finished harshly, before realizing what she'd said as her blue-grey eyes widened in shock. Unohana cut her off with a look before she could apologize, though, and waited for a few moments before bringing up the topic she'd been waiting to speak on.

"Have you spoken to your mother lately?"

"That woman isn't—" Amara began bitterly, only to be cut off again by the Captain Commander.

"Yes, she is," Unohana said calmly but with force, tempering Amara's outburst considerably even if rage still simmered in her eyes.

"Then why hasn't she ever acted like it?" the younger Shinigami snapped back. "Every time I try to talk to her, she either ignores me completely or thinks up some reason why she has to be somewhere else! Why can't she come to me for once?"

"She probably believes that she has no right to do so. Just give her some time, Amara."

"She's had twenty-five years to get over herself," Amara spat as the telltale sound of an approaching Hell Butterfly sounded throughout the large room. "How much time does she need?"

As the fluttering messenger landed on Unohana's outstretched finger and relayed its news, the Captain Commander's eyes snapped wide open in shock.

"You'll have to excuse me, Amara," she said distractedly, rising from her seat. "I have to call an emergency Captain's Meeting."

"What?" Amara exclaimed as she got up quickly, leaving her tea unfinished. "Why? What's wrong?"

Unohana closed her eyes slowly, taking a deep breath and seemingly resigning herself to some grim fate with a sigh.

"Captain Shiba is dead."

* * *

"Please calm down, Shiro-san," Unohana insisted, "and start from the beginning."

Shiro had come forward into the hall as the only witness to Kaien Shiba's death, carrying the Captain's eviscerated body in his arms. The other Captains stood in their rows looking on with expressions ranging from sadness to disgust, Captain Ukitake's eyes the saddest of all at the demise of his former Lieutenant. After handing the body of the fallen Shinigami off to a nearby attendant to be taken to the morgue, the Hollow began to recount his tale.

"I was up early this morning, and I caught wind of the Captain's mission from some paper-pusher in Fifth Division. Thought I'd lend a hand, so I followed them out to the edge of the Rukongai."

"Do you remember the name of the person who told you about the mission?" Captain Orihime pressed, and Shiro met her gaze coldly.

"What is this, a trial?" he parried evenly. "Of course I don't remember who it was, I only talked to them for a few seconds."

"Inoue has a point," Shunsui broke in. "It would have been nice to know who leaked information concerning a classified mission; we can't afford to have such loose-lipped people in our ranks right now, considering the state of the Rukongai."

"We can have a summit concerning our general security at some other time, Kyoraku," Captain Ukitake replied insistently. "Please continue, Shiro. What happened to Kaien and his men?"

"I got there, and Eris Caedea had entered Soul Society through a _garganta_. Kaien tried to talk her down, but she just attacked."

"Unprovoked?" Unohana asked, a single eyebrow arching slightly. "You're saying she simply showed up and attacked you, without so much as a word of explanation? Forgive me if I have a hard time believing that story."

"And why not?"

All eyes in the room turned to the doorway, as Byakuya Kuchiki walked calmly into the meeting despite his uncharacteristic tardiness. His _senkaisan_ was also absent, and he looked like he'd just come back from a war.

"Do you find it hard to believe because you spent so much time with this Espada in captivity? With all due respect, Captain Commander Unohana," Byakuya continued in a tone that conveyed very little of it, "I believe you are the last person in this room who should be arbitrating this proceeding."

"My past acquaintance with the Arrancar in question aside," she replied testily, "I find it incredibly unlikely that chief proponent of the truce between our two people would so shamelessly dishonor it, and with no real motive to do so."

"No real motive?" Byakuya repeated, lacing his words with skepticism. "What makes you think an Espada needs a motive to attack us? They're Hollows, in case you've forgotten."

"I have not forgotten that," Unohana parried, her voice still hard, "but the logic you are using is weak. The Arrancar were the ones who proposed the truce to us to begin with, when we were on the brink of complete annihilation. They could have killed us all on the day that Aizen died, or they could have attacked us again once the Vizards returned to the Human World and left us behind, but they did not.

"Why would they strike now, and on so isolated a scale, when we are strong enough to meet them on equal terms? It makes no sense."

"Perhaps because this is the beginning of some larger plan," Byakuya answered accusingly. "Perhaps your efforts to have all of us see the Arrancar as toothless is just a way to get us to lower our guard so that when we do, you and your allies can succeed where Aizen failed, and conquer Soul Society!"

"What the hell are you talking about, Byakuya?" Shunsui exclaimed. "That's just insane!"

"Is it?" the Captain of Sixth Division replied. "Why don't you tell them yourself, Unohana," Byakuya spoke to the Captain Commander, his eyes narrowing viciously. "Tell the people who trust you with their lives why you lied about the death of Gin Ichimaru."

Shock jolted through the room instantly, and the normally subdued gathering became complete chaos for several moments until a strong surge of reiatsu coming from Unohana restored order, albeit barely. Even the Captains who had sided with Byakuya opposing Unohana's position of power had been kept in the dark about this revelation, and both Kira and Matsumoto looked like they'd just been gutted.

When the Captain Commander made no direct move to deny the accusation Orihime stepped in on her behalf, even as worry coiled in the gut of the Fourth Division's Captain. Why wasn't Unohana denying the claim, unless she knew it was true?

"Do you have any proof of this, Captain Kuchiki?" she asked, and Byakuya gave her a smile that made her blood run cold.

"As a matter of fact, Inoue," he replied smoothly, "I do."

Turning his head to look towards the open doors, Byakuya called out authoritatively.

"Bring him in!"

Three forms appeared in the doorway, two members of the Special Ops flanking the battered, bloodied form of Gin Ichimaru. Clearly he and Byakuya had been engaged in a long, drawn-out duel; a shard of yellow _sekki-sekki_ stone had been jammed through Gin's right pectoral, and his clothing was covered with gashes and tears that were mirrored in the exposed flesh under it. The former Captain moved with a slight limp as his escorts pushed him forward, and the only time Gin turned his head was to give Matsumoto a look with his eyes fully open that was at once apologetic, weary, pained and resigned before he moved on.

Gin was prodded along until he stood a few paces away from Unohana, who looked as if she could see the world crumbling to pieces in front of her and was absolutely powerless to stop it.

"You still haven't told us why it is you lied about the deal you made with this scum," Byakuya rejoined. "What else have you lied to us about, Unohana? Is Aizen still breathing?"

"Sosuke Aizen is dead," the Captain Commander said dully, as if this power play of Byakuya's had sapped her of all her strength and she now felt as old as she really was. "Of that much I am beyond certain. As for why I allowed Gin Ichimaru to live, I knew that there would be those among you who would be resentful of a truce between the Shinigami and the Arrancar, and I had my suspicions that resentment might fester and grow into something far more dangerous to the peace. So I enlisted the aid of Ichimaru—"

"To spy on us, correct?" Byakuya cut in, his voice cold and precise as he delivered the finishing blow. "To _spy_ on us, the very Shinigami you were supposedly leading, the ones who trusted you enough to appoint you to the post of Captain Commander. And so that he would act as your lackey, you pardoned a war criminal behind our backs and excused him from any kind of punishment or retribution for his act of high treason!

"My fellow Captains," he concluded, "I believe that the evidence I have presented to you just now bears more than enough weight to merit calling for a vote of impeachment against our current Captain Commander. I myself will initiate this motion; are there any others who stand with me?"

Kira was the first to step forward in a show of support, followed quickly by Matsumoto. Komamura, Hisagi and Yumichika came forward as well, leaving only Orihime, Shunsui, Ukitake and Soi Fon undecided. After sharing a tense look with his former teacher, Shunsui sighed and stepped forward as well, and Ukitake mirrored the gesture.

Orihime was staring right at Shiro and knew deep down in her gut that something was very, very wrong with this whole situation. But she also knew that it would be more prudent to declare nominal allegiance to Byakuya now and stay alive, rather than defy him and risk being charged with treason as well. Her heart heavy in her chest, the Captain of Fourth Division forced one foot in front of the other and joined the growing ranks of dissenting Shinigami.

Soi Fon couldn't move. She might not have been as perceptive as that smug bastard Urahara, but the Captain of Second Division was smart enough to see that Byakuya was going to push for an all-out war against the surviving Arrancar very soon after taking the reins of Soul Society. Such a conflict would almost certainly wind up leaving either Grimmjow or Héctor dead, if not both of them, and with such overwhelming support for Unohana's impeachment, there was no way that anyone who stood against Kuchiki was going to make a difference.

"Captain Soi Fon," Byakuya urged, "your vote."

Looking Byakuya dead in the eye, she stepped backwards with a slow, deliberate movement. She noticed that one corner of Byakuya's mouth curled up into an infuriatingly superior smirk, but apart from that it seemed as though her refusal to fall in line came as no surprise to the Captain of Sixth Division.

"Very well," Byakuya spoke evenly, "the final count is nine for, one against. Captain Commander Unohana, please abdicate your post."

Unohana smiled sadly and gave a single rueful chuckle as she slipped off the _haori_ of the First Division, leaving it lying on the ground behind her as she walked out of the hall. She didn't even flinch as the guards who had brought in Gin restrained her, and the oldest Shinigami in all of the Gotei was led to her cell inside the Maggot's Nest, in the deepest recesses of the fetid dungeon.

* * *

Orihime finally caught up to her former lover and put her hand on his pale shoulder, gripping hard enough to keep him from just shrugging her off like he had so many times before.

"You did it," she whispered into his ear, to keep any inadvertent eavesdroppers from overhearing, "didn't you?"

"No," Shiro replied levelly, "I didn't."

The Captain felt something crack inside of her as she realized that she couldn't tell for sure whether or not the Hollow was lying. There had been a time when she'd been able to ferret out the slightest shifts in his emotions as clearly as her own, but no longer.

"Shiro," a calm voice broke in, "Byakuya wants to see you."

The Hollow placed one of his hands on top of Orihime's and pulled it away, walking the rest of the way down the hall and turning the corner out of sight. Orihime turned her head over her shoulder and found herself looking at Shuuhei Hisagi, whose face was as impassive as usual. But his eyes softened as he spoke, his tone genuinely concerned.

"You all right, Inoue?" he asked.

"Of course; I'm fine," she answered, flashing a smile that they both knew was fake.

"Well, I'm not," Hisagi admitted, sighing. "I'm heading down to the bar; I'll save you a seat if you change your mind."

Orihime continued on to her office, but it took just twenty minutes of staring blankly at paperwork for her to hang up her _haori_, snatch up a pouch of money and walk out the door again. As she paced distractedly through the halls, her mind brutally dredged up a memory she would rather have kept buried.

"_What did you say?"_

"_You heard me," Shiro spat back, his tone remaining harsh despite the hurt look beginning to show on Orihime's face. "I asked you what you're doing here, Orihime."_

"_What kind of a question is that?"_

"_Don't play that game with me, woman," the Hollow parried, his eyes narrowing spitefully. "Every time I get so much as a scratch, you're there hovering over me like I'm about to die or something. It's fucking suffocating!"_

_The nearby attendants in the room edged towards the door, knowing that a temperamental Shiro was the last thing they wanted to be around. For her part, it took Orihime a few moments to find her footing again after such a stinging rebuke. _

"_You almost lost your damn leg," she answered with a simmering tone, "and I reattached it. How the hell is that suffocating?"_

_He was silent for several heartbeats, but when Shiro spoke his voice was sharp with the same pitiless frankness that had forced Orihime out of her fake shell so many years ago._

"_Whenever I get hurt," he began, giving her a searching look, "you don't see me, do you?"_

"_What?"_

"_You see Ichigo."_

_Orihime's gray eyes widened at the accusation, but Shiro pressed on before she could slip a word in edgewise._

"_That's all you've ever seen in me, admit it. Ever since he ditched you to shack up with Kuchiki, you've been looking for a replacement. I just happened to fit the bill perfectly and I thought you'd be a good lay, so we each took what we wanted."_

_His scathing analysis done, the Hollow pushed himself up off of the cot and walked swiftly out of the room, not looking back. Orihime swallowed back a surging wave of nausea and moved with a slightly stumbling gait back to her office. Once there, she took three of the pills she used to treat post-traumatic stress in Shinigami and swallowed them, chasing the medicine with hastily-gulped glass of water. _

_As her vision began to grow hazy, the Captain moved over to the couch and collapsed onto it, the tears that she had held at bay sliding slowly down her cheeks and dropping down onto the floor._

As the memory faded back into a dark corner of Orihime's mind, she blinked and found that her feet had carried her to the door of the bar she visited at the end of particularly long weeks. Pushing open the doors, she quickly searched out Shuuhei at their usual booth and sat down across from him, smiling as she saw that he'd already ordered her usual drink.

"You know I don't normally do this here," Hisagi opened in a tone that put his fellow Captain on edge immediately, "but I'm afraid I have to talk business."

"What is it?" Orihime asked, and Hisagi paused to take a long pull on his drink before continuing.

"Byakuya's already been sworn in as the new Captain Commander, Inoue."

"What!?" Fourth's Captain exclaimed. "There wasn't even a vote!"

"There didn't need to be a formal one, not after that show he put on at the Captain's Meeting. But that's not what I need to talk to you about.

"He's already planning a surprise attack on the Arrancar still alive in Hueco Mundo; Soi Fon's already been thrown into jail with Unohana to keep her from tipping off Grimmjow, and I don't even know what's been done with Héctor."

"What does that have to do with me, Shuuhei?" Orihime pressed, and Ninth's Captain locked eyes with her once again before continuing.

"Byakuya's goal is to wipe the Arracar out of existence, Inoue. All of them. Including Ulquiorra."

Orihime felt her breath catch at the mention of her old friend; she hadn't heard from him since the night he had come to her asking for his zanpakuto to be repaired, but that lack of contact hadn't stopped her thoughts from straying towards him from time to time.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked, a note of pain in her voice. "Do you want me to be executed for sedition, Shuuhei?"

"Of course not," Hisagi replied as he finished his drink and rose, leaving enough money to cover the bill. "But I do think that you're the only one he would listen to if the time came that we needed his help."

"'We'? Who's 'we'? Aren't you on Byakuya's side?"

"You voted to stand with him too, right?" the other Captain parried. "Are you on his side?"

Hisagi turned and left, leaving Orihime even more confused than she had been before coming here in the hopes of gaining some degree of solace.

What the hell was happening to Soul Society?

* * *

Ulquiorra woke from his sleep with a start as the oppressive wave of reiatsu slammed down over him, only pausing to check that both zanpakuto were still at his waist before he walked out of his shelter. Barragan Luisenbarn awaited him out under the light of the sickly crescent moon, his _fraccion_ by his side.

"Ulquiorra," Barragan ground out. "It's about time you showed your cowardly face."

"Cowardly? Me?" the former Fourth Espada shot back evenly, utterly unfazed by the taunt. "I'm not the one who insists on maintaining an entourage of _fraccion_, Luisenbarn. Are you really that afraid of the Gillians?"

Barragan grit his teeth, but said nothing for a moment before shifting his tone along with the subject.

"We have unfinished business, Schiffer," he declared, motioning to his _fraccion_ to get ready for battle. "That worthless female Shinigami kept me from killing you last time we fought, and Yammy got to you before I could when Aizen called for his final assault. I despise not finishing my battles, Ulquiorra," Barragan finished as his _fraccion_ advanced before him, leaving their leader to sit on his throne and watch the battle unfold.

"I will give you the chance to prove yourself against my loyal soldiers, Schiffer," he decreed. "If you can survive them, I shall pay sufficient respect to your skills by allowing you to die by my hand. Kill him!"

Avirama, Findor, Poww and Ggio advanced, but stopped short of attacking when Ulquiorra released his reiatsu, holding them in place for a few moments.

"I do not have time to waste disposing of trash like you," he said calmly, "so I will give you an ultimatum. Either leave your master's side and vanish from my eyes forever and I will let you live, or choose to fight me here and I can guarantee that you will die."

Findor, Avirama and Poww all shouted vehement declarations of their loyalty to Barragan, but their tongues were stilled when Ggio made his position known.

"Sounds good to me," he said, moving his hand away from his sword hilt. "I'm not about to die for that arrogant bastard."

"Ggio, where the hell are you going?!" Avirama shouted, but his former comrade was already gone.

"Don't worry about him," Poww said seriously. "He can go starve to death on these wastes for his treachery. For now, we have a far more serious threat to focus on."

"Then why did you let your guard down, you trash?"

Poww gasped in surprise and his eyes widened as searing pain slammed into him, a deep gash appearing diagonally across his chest running down from his shoulder a heartbeat later. Ulquiorra had used _sonido_ to wind up behind his target, and whipped the blade of Murciélago downwards to clean it of the blood rolling along its edge. As the right half of the large _fraccion_ fell away from the left, Avirama and Findor spun around quickly to face their adversary once again.

"You bastard," Avirama seethed, "I'll kill you! _Scalp, Águila_!"

When the Arrancar's _resurreccion _was completed he hovered in the air, kept aloft by four large eagle wings.

"I don't care if you used to be the _Cuatra_, you piece of shit," Avirama taunted, "there's no way you can keep up with me airborne like this!"

A vicious smirk flashed across Ulquiorra's face, and he held out his zanpakuto in front of him.

"_Bind,_ _Murciélago._"

The surge of reiatsu from the release was so strong that it made Barragan flinch from his seat on his throne of bones, and Avirama gave ground before the sudden downpour of black rain. As it ceased, the _fraccion_ refocused only to find himself staring right into Ulquiorra's hard green eyes. A pair of huge, black bat-like wings had grown out from his back, his helmet had completed itself and his hair had grown longer and wilder as a result of unleashing his release.

"I can't keep up with you?" Ulquiorra mused with dark wryness, before vanishing in a buzz.

"I think you have that switched around, _fraccion_."

Avirama could only look down in shock at the hole that had been torn open where his sternum had once been, most of his vitals either outright destroyed or falling uselessly to the ground below him.

"Now vanish," Ulquiorra spoke from behind Avirama, not even turning to face his opponent as he raised up his right hand and began to charge a dark _cero_ at his fingertips.

"_Cero Oscuras."_

The blast of dark energy completely engulfed the wounded _fraccion_, leaving nothing of him behind. Findor was daunted by the display of power from his opponent, but wasn't about to back down and be killed cowering like a rodent.

"_Engrave the surface of the water,_ _Pinza Aguda_!"

As soon as his release was complete, the Arrancar raised up his large pincer and snapped off all but a sliver of the mask covering his face, boosting his reiatsu considerably. Ulquiorra simply watched Findor with a blank expression, only reacting once the _fraccion_ went as far as to launch an attack against him by charging up a large _cero_. Ulquiorra wordlessly materialized a large spike of lightning in one hand, throwing it like a spear hard enough that it cleaved the _cero_ in half and still retained its form, piercing Findor's skull right between his eyes and blowing his head clean off.

"Foolish."

Ulquiorra alighted and turned to face Barragan, who looked rattled by such a dominant display of force. Rising from his throne, the older Arrancar reached behind him and drew his massive, axe-shaped zanpakuto _Arrogante_ from the blackness within the seat.

"Impressive," Barragan conceded. "Your strength certainly has improved. If I'd known that all it would have taken to make you serious was to kill off your woman, Neliel would have been dust long before Ajax killed her."

"Bite your tongue," Ulquiorra spoke with simmering rage, summoning another spike of lightning with a flick of his wrist and throwing it at Barragan with as much force as he could muster. The other Arrancar didn't even flinch, however, and the bolt stopped short of actually impacting Barragan before he reached out and gripped the projectile, dispelling it with ease.

"How naïve," he chided, before vanishing so quickly that Ulquiorra barely registered the buzz of his _sonido_. A sharp dodge to the side turned what would have been a decapitating blow into a severed wing, and a burst of _sonido_ brought him face-to-face with Barragan once more. After a moment's concentration the severed wing had been regenerated, and Ulquiorra called another spike of lightning into existence as his opponent brandished his axe.

"Your paltry weapons are nothing compared to the power I hold sway over, the ravages of time itself," Barragan spoke, before his tone shifted and he began his release.

"_Rot, Arrogante."_

Ulquiorra gazed levelly into the cluster of writhing black flames that surrounded Barragan as the _resurreccion_ occurred, using the lull in battle to prepare himself. As the flames receded, Ulquiorra could see that Barragan's form had changed drastically, as if the flames had obliterated all of his flesh and left a living skeleton in their wake.

"You believe that your aspect of death is the supreme destroyer of wills, Schiffer," the aged Arrancar growled. "But even the very concept of nothingness stems from the erosion of time. Come, and I will show you the true form of that despair you seem to hold in such high esteem."

Ulquiorra said nothing, instead disappearing in a burst of _sonido_ and reappearing right in front of Barragan, another lightning spike in his hand. He felt the speed of his attack slow to a crawl right before it connected, and Barragan's smirk gleamed through his sightless eye sockets.

"_Respira._"

Ulquiorra's own eyes widened and he backed off as quickly as he could to escape the black smog of decay, but some of it managed to graze his hand all the same.

"Damn it!" he hissed, willing his mind to stay calm despite the pain that blazed along his arm with more and more intensity as layers of flesh and tissue were sheared off of his bones. Gritting his teeth, the Arrancar chopped off his necrotic limb and focused, the pain in the stump's nerves replaced by a warm sensation for a moment before a new arm grew out from the stump.

"Oh ho," Barragan said with an amused chuckle, "this looks like it might be fun after all. Your regeneration powers have improved, to be able to counteract my _Respira_ so quickly… I guess there's no room for toying with you this time around."

The elder Arrancar summoned a massive black axe from within the depths of his shroud, the edges of it much more sharply curved than his zanpakuto had been.

"My _Gran Caida_ will show you the limits of your gutless power, Schiffer. If you have any other tricks I suggest you pull them out now, or get down on your knees and humble yourself before your executioner."

Ulquiorra felt fury well up within him at the prospect of being forced to play his ace so soon in the fight, but he shelved his pride almost as quickly as it had reared its ugly head. Barragan wasn't wasting any time, and for him to hold back now would be a sure death sentence. That, and he had learned the consequences of hiding his powers in the most brutal way possible: because he had been so proud and hadn't finished Yammy off earlier, he had lost Neliel for good. And during his decades of roaming on the plains of Hueco Mundo, the former Espada had sworn to himself over and over again that he would never sacrifice anything else he cared about for the sake of his pride.

And he cared about his own life very dearly.

"Very well," he said evenly, pulling all of his reiatsu inwards and preparing his body to assume a form he had only unleashed once before. "If you wish to witness the full extent of my powers then I will oblige you, as befits the final request of a dead man."

Ulquiorra's pent up reiatsu exploded, but remained contained in an area that enveloped the Arrancar's body. As the dark energy subsided, Ulquiorra stood with a changed form to rival his opponent's, as the skeletal reaper found himself staring at a demon of myth made flesh. Elegantly curved horns crowned his head now in place of his earlier helmet, his hands and feet metamorphosed into claws and talons wreathed with black, along with a tail that now curved sharply behind him, taut with strength. The Hollow Hole in his chest had widened considerably, and now a thick stripe of black pitch ran from the bottom of it down most of Ulquiorra's chest. His reiatsu had also magnified by at least tenfold, and as his now-yellow irises bored through Barragan with murder seething from the gaze, the skeletal Espada experienced the shiver of fear lancing down his spine for the first time in his existence.

"I see that you have finally begun to feel it," Ulquiorra said with an undercurrent of amused malice, "the true power of despair. Even though time may bring all things to an end, Luisenbarn, despair is the most potent catalyst for ruin that exists. Prepare to die."

Ulquiorra placed both of his palms together and coalesced his reiatsu, forming a powerful spear of lighting between his hands as they were drawn apart.

"_Lanza Del Relampago_."

"Still using ranged attacks?" Barragan scoffed. "When will you learn that they are powerless against me?!"

The winged Arrancar smirked, unleashing his more powerful attack despite Barragan's assurance that it wouldn't connect. As Barragan exercised his powers to halt the flight of the projectile and reduce it to dust, Ulquiorra launched his true gambit. Using _sonido_ to slip behind his opponent, he tapped into the increased power granted by his _Seguenda Etapa_ to summon an instantaneous _Cero Oscuras_, firing off the attack before Barragan had a chance to redirect his powers and stop it.

The black light slammed into the other Arrancar, and Ulquiorra fired off another one just to be sure of his enemy's destruction before backing off in a burst of _sonido_ to survey the results of his assault. His yellow eyes widened slightly in surprise, though, when Barragan was still standing as the smoke and dust cleared away. Half of his body had been obliterated, but even damage of that extent didn't seem to daunt Barragan. If anything, it only increased his power as his rage spiked concurrently.

"You impertinent little shit," he growled, hefting his _Gran Caida_ with his remaining hand as if it weighed nothing. "I'm going to grind you down to dust, even if I have to do it one hundred times before you break!"

Barragan harnessed his terrifyingly fast _sonido_ and swung his axe down on Ulquiorra, feeling visceral satisfaction as a black arm was sliced asunder. Keeping up the assault, he unleashed a full-speed _Respira_, aimed at cleaving his opponent clean in half. Ulquiorra vanished, but Barragan still chuckled in satisfaction: he'd felt his attack connect, and that meant his enemy was as good as finished. Still, he didn't want to leave anything to chance. Rushing forward through the smog of his _Respira_, he struck once again with his _Gran Caida_, intent on leaving not even a shred of Ulquiorra's corpse for the vultures.

"Such unmitigated paranoia does not become you, Luisenbarn," his opponent's coldly amused voice spoke out from no more than arms-length away. "Were you that unsettled by my strength? As I said," Ulquiorra finished, crushing the axe-blade that he had caught one-handed into shards, "your powers are crippled in the face of despair."

"Impossible!" Barragan exclaimed as he saw a deep wound on Ulquiorra's abdomen closing up. "That was all of my _Respira_ that touched you? How did you—"

The aged Arrancar's voice was stilled as he caught sight of a bladeless sword grip in Ulquiorra's regenerated hand, the hilt bearing the distinctive double crescent moon of Neliel's _Gamuza_.

"I see," he spoke spitefully, "you used that empty husk of a zanpakuto to absorb the brunt of my _Respira_. How poetic, if still futile."

Ulquiorra used the time Barragan took backing off to form another _Lanza_, slinging it at his opponent. The other Arrancar broke it down as before, but Ulquiorra noted with satisfaction that his speed had decreased since the _Cero Oscuras_ had blown him in half.

Now, it was only a matter of time.

Barragan began to feel frantic as spear after spear of lightning flew at him, but he forced his mind to remain calm. Ulquiorra would run out of reiatsu eventually, and then the killing blow would be Barragan's for the taking. It was only a matter of time. As the barrage of projectiles finally slowed and stopped, the elder Arrancar mustered all of his dwindling power and attacked, the blade of his double-axe that was still intact screaming down to cleave Ulquiorra in half the same way Poww had been butchered.

"The all-consuming desperation you now feel is the true end of all things," Ulquiorra said calmly as his enemy rushed at him.

"And now, having shown you that truth, I may end this farce."

Barragan felt the strength rush from his limbs as one final _Lanza_ pierced through the remainder of his chest. He noticed with bitter rage that Ulquiorra had been holding this last trump card with his tail, waiting for his enemy to put all of his energies towards attacking before attempting to strike.

"Damn you," Barragan rasped out while his bones began chipping away and crumbling as his life force finally flickered and faded.

Ulquiorra relinquished his _resurreccion_ and re-sheathed his zanpakuto before falling to his knees as the fatigue of the battle finally caught up to him. As he lay prone on the sand and his eyelids began to close, Ulquiorra saw the remains of _Gamuza_ break apart and fly away on the wind. The ground beneath the fallen Arrancar had been weakened to the point of erosion by the titanic amount of reiatsu released by both fighters, and the sand soon gave way beneath Ulquiorra, dragging him down into the subterranean Menos Forest.

* * *

.........................

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**A/N:** Whew, that was an intense chapter. Apologies for the mammoth length, but that Ulquiorra fight kind of ran away with me a little bit. Well, we're at the midway point of the story now, and I hope this chapter proved enjoyable! Things look bad now, but I'd be lying if I said they couldn't get any worse. Big ups to **JasoTheArtisan** once again for being a fantastic beta and looking over this chapter for me, and **please review**!


	4. The Czar

**Triumph**

**Chapter 4: **The Czar

* * *

Héctor had started running as soon as he'd heard the news that Unohana had been stripped of her position as Captain Commander, and the frantic Hell Butterfly from his mother had only served to increase his pace.

He had known since the day the War had ended that this might happen, but Héctor had at least hoped that when the hammer finally fell, it would take a bit longer to make impact. Byakuya's takeover had been swift and absolute, and Héctor had no doubts that a corps of Special Forces trackers had already been sent out to hunt him down. He used _shunpo_ to carry him as far into the Rukongai as Kusajishi before continuing into Zaraki on foot, hoping to throw the hounds off his trail by keeping his reiatsu to a minimum. Fortunately the citizens were too busy brutalizing each other to notice that Héctor was hiding a zanpakuto under his cloak; the Rukongai had become more and more riotous in the wake of the War, and the fringes were the areas most conducive to violent uprisings.

Ducking into an all-but deserted tavern, the Vizard walked up to the bar and tapped on the cracked, warped wood.

"Whaddaya want?" the barman slurred gruffly, and Héctor pointed out a bottle of cheap sake that he was soon forcing down his throat and trying not to vomit back up. His plan was to lure the other Shinigami in here to close quarters and massacre them, but not only would they probably not be that stupid, it also raised another question that Héctor had no desire to confront right now:

What the hell was he going to do?

He could try to run to the Vizards in the Human World, but for all he knew Urahara was working with Byakuya and would rat him out as soon as he saw him. Even Yoruichi, who had played the role of godmother and taught him to perfect his skills in _shunpo_, would most likely follow in Urahara's footsteps.

_Just stay here,_ his Hollow spoke gratingly in his head. _Take their fucking heads. They're going to chop yours off anyway, so ya might as well take some of those fuckers down with you before they do!_

The sharp exhortation was loud, but not distracting enough to keep Héctor's eyes from noticing that his hunters had slipped into the bar, taking up seats at the tables by the door to block off the exit. The few patrons that weren't Shinigami were either passed out cold or well on their way, and the barman retreated into a backroom as soon as he felt the seething killing intent settle over the air.

"Give it up, kid," a bald man with a tapestry of scars across his face said. "We've already sent your location back to the squad leaders; even if you kill us, four more squads are going to be after you inside of ten minutes."

"Well then," Héctor replied easily as he unsealed his reiatsu and turned around to face his assailants, "I guess there isn't much of a reason to keep you bastards alive, now is there?"

The eight Special Forces soldiers advanced swiftly on their target, the cramped confines of the room doing them no favors as Héctor closed his eyes and focused. Moving his hand slowly over to the hilt of his zanpakuto and gripping it tightly, he waited for the right moment to draw. As soon as his enemies were within striking distance, Héctor popped the katana partway out of its sheath and then drew it fully in one smooth motion, cutting in a wide arc with the next beat before effortlessly re-sheathing the sword, stopping all eight of the would-be assassins cold. As he smirked and began to walk over towards the door, though, he heard four voices speak out in unison behind him.

"_Bakudo number 9: Geki!"_

Cursing himself bitterly for having been stupid enough to drop his guard after landing just one strike, Héctor could only stand there, rigid, as the paralyzing _kido_ froze every muscle in his body.

"Now, while he can't move," the bald man's voice called out. "Seize him!"

The other four Special Forces soldiers moved forward and clamped down a reiatsu-sealing collar on his neck and identical cuffs around his arms, before the final soldier pushed a shard of _sekki-sekki _stone through his shoulder; it was a non-lethal point that would still both seal off his reiatsu and hurt enough to immobilize the target. The Vizard crumpled powerlessly to the ground, blood from the wound seeping out onto the wooden floor beneath him as he lay there unmoving in defeat.

Some minutes passed before Héctor heard the soft footfalls of the backup units the bald man had mentioned earlier, and soon enough he had been hauled to his feet as hands gripped his shoulders roughly and the Vizard was marched out like a prize of war. He was able to walk under his own power for a few steps, but soon the blood loss began to rob his legs of their strength and he slumped, pant-legs becoming stained with dust as they were dragged along the ground.

* * *

Amara was walking through the halls of Fourth Division with purpose in her stride, intent on tracking down Daisuke so that she could issue her challenge to him, when she overheard some excited voices that made her stop dead in her tracks.

"What?" one voice exclaimed incredulously. "The Captain Commander was forced to step down, _and_ they threw her in the Maggot's Nest? What happened?"

"Turns out that traitor Gin Ichimaru's been alive this whole time, and Unohana had him working for her on the sly! Can you believe that? I heard Captain Kuchiki's the new Captain Commander now, and he chucked Captain Soi Fon into a cell as well!"

"But that's not even the best part," another voice joined in raucously. "I hear Kuchiki's gonna order an assault on Hueco Mundo soon, and those Arrancar won't see it coming! It's about time we broke that stupid truce, if y'ask me."

Amara's gray-blue eyes widened as she took in the news, unsure how exactly to react.

Her father was alive. Her guardian of all these years had known he was alive, and Unohana had lied through her teeth. She might have been able to meet her father, to get to know him, to try and understand why he had never shown his face to her even once all of these years. But instead she had been kept in the dark, and now Amara wasn't even sure if she'd be able to see him at all, traitor on death row that he was.

And if the other rumor was true, if Byakuya was seriously considering breaking the truce with the Arrancar to the point that he had placed Soi Fon in the Maggot's Nest to keep her quiet, then Héctor was in serious trouble. How long before Byakuya decided he was a liability, if he hadn't already? Swallowing hard and forcing her head to keep an even keel, Amara banished all thoughts of challenging Daisuke from her mind and bolted out of the Fourth Division building, headed for the headquarters of the Second Division.

* * *

"So," Yumichika asked as the Captains met once again, "when should we launch our attack?"

"The sooner, the better in my opinion," Komamura spoke up strongly. "If we wait too long, Grimmjow will get suspicious when he hasn't heard from either Soi Fon or Héctor, and we would sacrifice the element of surprise. That advantage will be crucial to our success, and we cannot afford to lose it; our opponents are all Arrancar that were once members of the Espada, after all, and are not to be taken lightly."

"I agree with Sajin," Kira joined. "Though they may be few in number, we still face the _Primera, Seguenda,_ _Tercera_, _Sexta_ and _Novena_ Espada, to say nothing of the rogue Arrancar Barragan Luisenbarn and Ulquiorra Schiffer."

"Ulquiorra may still be observant of the terms of the truce," Shunsui said thoughtfully, "but Barragan is a wild card."

"I think we should send Yumichika, Kira, Renji, Komamura, Shiro and myself," Hisagi suggested. "The Captain Commander should stay here to cement his position, and Kyoraku-san, Inoue and Matsumoto can remain here as a guard against any Hollow incursions or unrest in the Rukongai."

Ukitake bristled silently at the omission of his name, but a cough that rattled his ribcage and the blood that forced its way past his lips proved Hisagi's discretion right.

"I can think of no flaws in that plan," Byakuya spoke at last, sparing Ukitake a concerned glance as he did so. "Very well: the six of you will comprise the strike team. Shiro, I assume you can open up a _garganta_ strong enough to support the group in its entirety?"

"Absolutely," the Hollow replied, a murderous gleam in his eyes that made Orihime sick to her stomach.

"One thing more, however," Byakuya added. "If you can manage it, I want as many of these Espada to be brought back here alive as possible."

"Why?" Komamura growled. "What possible benefit could there be to leaving them alive?"

"Because any triumph needs its prisoners, Sajin," Byakuya replied calmly. "We must unite all of Soul Society behind a common enemy once more in order to completely quell the unrest amongst these foolish peasants, and that enemy is the Arrancar."

"I agree," Yumichika added. "Nothing like a public execution to raise morale."

"Still, there is the risk of their escape," Shunsui cautioned coolly, but Byakuya stilled his concerns with a smile.

"There will be no risks involved in this, Kyoraku. Each of the prisoners will be confined to a cell in the Maggot's Nest, and their zanpakuto will be erased from existence by Captain Orihime. Couple their lack of weaponry with reiatsu-negating restraints, and even the fiercest of the Espada will be reduced to nothing more than a fangless beast."

The meeting was adjourned shortly after Byakuya's final comment, and Orihime was walking back towards the entrance to the First Division's headquarters alongside Shunsui and Ukitake when the Captain of the Thirteenth Division stopped walking and started coughing violently.

"Ukitake-san!" Orihime called out in concern, wordlessly materializing her _Soten Kisshun_ while Shunsui held his friend upright. The two Captains exchanged worried looks while Ukitake stayed silent underneath the golden dome, the exertion of his fit having drained him considerably. Ever since the War Ukitake's condition had worsened considerably; twenty years of imprisonment under Aizen had done him no favors physically, and the psychological duress had also taken a large toll on the already-frail Shinigami.

"Come on," Shunsui said gently as he led his friend away once Orihime was done administering her treatment, "I'll make you some tea; it's getting late, and you need your rest."

Giving Fourth's Captain a final look of gratitude over his shoulder, Shunsui cleared the threshold of First Division and flashed away in a powerful burst of _shunpo._ Orihime sighed sadly, knowing that her treatments were stopgap measures at best; still, she would do what she could to keep Ukitake-san alive regardless. Kaien Shiba was dead, and the last thing Rukia needed to hear was that her other mentor had joined him in the afterlife.

The thought of Rukia shifted the direction of Orihime's steps, and soon enough she found herself in front of the door to Rukia's room, the quarters of the Thirteenth Division's Lieutenant. When her initial knocks weren't answered, Orihime pushed open the door softly and walked in.

Rukia was standing by her open window, back to the door. In the distance Orihime could make out the hills glimmering in the setting sun where she had said that she used to train with Kaien, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what was going through her mind.

"Renji broke the news to me earlier," she said with a detached voice, still coming to grips with the fact that Kaien was gone. "I just can't believe that the Arrancar would do such a thing."

Orihime had to bite her tongue to keep from voicing her own suspicions on Kaien Shiba's death; the last thing Rukia needed to hear right now was that Shiro was most likely the one who had done the deed, and that he was now wearing the _haori_ of Kaien's former Division.

"Inoue," Rukia asked wistfully, dragging Orihime out of her own murky thoughts, "do you remember that summer of the year I'd first come to the Human World, when we all went to go see those fireworks?"

"Yeah," she answered, walking forward to stand next to her friend and admire the dying sunlight, "I do. I had no idea how good we had it back then."

"I did," Rukia replied ruefully, "but I was naïve enough to think it would last. Do you think we'll ever be able to do that again?"

Orihime had the negative reply perched on the tip of her tongue, but she swallowed it and replaced it with a smile that she hoped managed to be reassuring.

"When we make it through this, I promise we will."

Rukia mirrored her friend's drawn smile, sadness still seeping through in her amethyst gaze.

"It won't be the same without him, though."

"No, it won't," Orihime agreed, returning her gaze to the hillside, "but it'll be better for both of us this way, all the same."

Rukia shifted her gaze back to the sunset as well, a thin veil of calm showing again in her expression as the blood orange orb dipped below the horizon.

"True."

* * *

The cloaked figure stood at the doors to the headquarters of Second Division, waiting patiently until their reiatsu signature was verified and the huge oak barrier split down the middle and swung back, clearing the way to enter. The Shinigami continued on with deliberate strides through the grounds, until they reached the second set of doors signifying the entrance into the Maggot's Nest, the most secure holding facility in Soul Society outside of the _Senzaikyu_ tower. A guard at the top of the stairs asked for the visitor's zanpakuto and it was relinquished before they continued to trek through the gloomy prison, weaving their way through the catacombs until they came to the room where the newest prisoners, and the most highly-guarded, resided.

Soi Fon sat in contemplation with a smirk on her face, no doubt mining dark humor from the irony of the fact that she was now a prisoner in the very jail she had been warden over for so long. Héctor was asleep, and Unohana was deep in meditation as her wrists chaffed subconsciously against the _sekki-sekki_ shackles that bound her wrists and had chains attached to them that led back to the wall, anchoring the cuffs like leashes. The person that the visiting Shinigami had come to see, however, was staring right in their direction, no smile on the lips that sat drawn in a thin line beneath faintly smoldering garnet eyes.

"Hello, Rangiku," Gin said seriously as Matsumoto pulled back the hood of her cloak and matched the intensity of her oldest friend's gaze. She said nothing for a few moments, but when she spoke her voice was as cold as he had ever heard it.

"I want to kill you, Gin."

"Then do it," Gin parried instantly, his voice as level as it always was when they fought. "They might have taken away your zanpakuto, but you can still use _kido_. Put a _Byakurai_ right through my skull, Rangiku. Do it."

Matsumoto raised her forefinger and began to gather the energy needed to perform the very _kido_ Gin had suggested. It flickered and fizzled as her resolve weakened, though, the outstretched finger closing into a tightly balled fist that shook with anger and self-loathing at her weakness.

"It's all your fault," she hissed. "It's all your fault! I gave up my daughter because I thought you were dead and I didn't think I could raise her alone. You cost me… you cost _us_ the chance to have a family! So why can't I kill you?"

Gin's eyes softened almost imperceptibly with pity, something that only someone who had known him as long as Matsumoto had would have noticed. But rather than console her, it only served to make the enraged Shinigami even angrier.

"I can't answer that question for you, Rangiku," Gin said softly, his mask that he had worn under Aizen's command gone completely. "All I can tell you is that I'm sorry, even though I know that's not nearly enough."

"You're not lying, are you?" she asked with mild disbelief, and he shook his head.

"I could never lie to you, Rangiku, and you know that. Why do you think I always ran away in the dead of the night before you woke up? I knew that if you asked me where I was going I would've told you, and I couldn't have put you in that much danger."

Matsumoto felt her knees beginning to shake despite herself, torn between fury that Gin had abandoned her and keen sorrow over the fact that, had he chosen to stay despite the risk to his life, they might have had a future together. A very furtive, insecure and dangerous future, but a future nonetheless.

"Why did you have to come back that night?" she asked with the last shreds of spite she could muster. "Why couldn't you have just died without breaking my heart all over again?"

Gin flinched at the raw words as they dug in to him, the truth cutting deeper than any sword.

"Because I was then and have always been a selfish bastard," he answered with utter sincerity, "and because I couldn't walk to my death in peace without telling you that I loved you."

The answer seemed to snap something deep inside Matsumoto, and this time the red light of a _Shakkaho_ hovered dangerously in front of her raised hand.

"What're you waiting for, Rangiku?" Gin prodded. "I'm not running away this time."

Matsumoto looked into Gin's eyes long and hard, and for several moments neither of them so much as twitched. But then the Captain closed her hand around the _kido_, extinguishing it.

"No," she said, "I'm not going to kill you here, and give you the peace of an easy death. Someone like you needs to know what it feels like to live with a broken heart, Gin; only when you've suffered like I've suffered am I going to take your life away from you."

Matsumoto turned and walked swiftly from the room, leaving Gin powerless to do anything more than bow his head and be silent.

* * *

Grimmjow was sitting on top of one of the jagged towers that dotted the falsely sunlit interior of Las Noches lost in thought when he felt a presence appear behind him, his eyes narrowing.

"What do you want, Eris?"

"To talk, Grimmjow."

The other Arrancar scoffed.

"What could we possibly have to talk about?"

"You've felt it too, haven't you?" the former _Primera_ said seriously as she walked over and sat down beside Grimmjow. "Something in the wind is changing."

The former _Sexta_ wasn't about to disagree: a feeling of distinct nausea had been coiling in his gut for the past few hours, and he could tell that something bad had happened to either Héctor or Soi. It seemed totally irrational, and he couldn't quite explain why he was so certain, but the overwhelming dread was undeniable.

"We all knew this day was going to come sooner or later, Eris," a third voice chimed in as Saika joined the pair of Arrancar on the tower. "A truce between two people that have lived for millennia doing nothing but killing each other wasn't bound to last for very long."

"I suppose we did invest too much into one person, true," Eris conceded, "and that was foolish on my part. Still, these years of peace have been quite nice while they've lasted."

"For you, yeah," Grimmjow broke back in with a half-growl. "I haven't seen Soi Fon in ages, and my kid in longer."

"We never forced you to stay here, Jaegerjaques," Saika parried evenly. "Why didn't you just go back to Soul Society for one of the diplomatic envoys, instead of leaving them to Eris, Stark and I every time?"

"'Cause she already gets enough flak for being the mother of our child, Aron," Grimmjow answered with simmering anger. "She doesn't need me there physically to make it even worse."

"And you think just hanging her out to dry like this is any better on your part?" the former _Tercera_ pressed, and Grimmjow's anger finally snapped.

"Listen, you asshole," he began, but Eris released a burst of reiatsu that stopped the quarrel before it had truly started.

"Enough, you two," she said in a stern, yet placating tone. "The last thing we need right now is internal feuding. Speaking of which, have either of you heard from Barragan?"

"What do you think, Eris?" Saika answered tersely. "Of course I haven't."

"He's dead."

All three Arrancar turned their heads at the sound of Stark's laconic voice, as the former _Seguenda_ stood looking lazily out at the horizon.

"What do you mean?" Grimmjow asked, and Stark shifted his detached gaze over to regard the other Arrancar.

"What does it sound like I mean, Grimmjow? Barragan's dead. Ulquiorra killed him not too long ago."

"Ulquiorra? Really?" Saika exclaimed in mild surprise. "Huh. Didn't think he had it in him, to be honest. How'd you find out about this, Stark? I haven't felt any trace of their reiatsu in a long time."

"I was just out wandering, and it was hard not to feel that much reiatsu all focused in one spot. What were you doing that had you so occupied, Aron?"

The _Tercera_ didn't reply, but it was obvious from the guarded looks that passed fleetingly over his face as well as Eris' what they'd been doing.

"What happened to Ulquiorra?" Grimmjow prompted, and Stark just shrugged.

"Both his and Barragan's reiatsu faded away at the same time," he said. "Could've been mutual death, but there was no way to confirm it. Either way," he finished, "they're both out of commission for now, and I have no idea where that kid Wonderwice ran off to."

"So, long story short," Eris finished for him, "if Soul Society decides to make a move now, it's the four of us against whatever they decide to throw our way."

"That's nothing," Saika shot back derisively. "Even if they've spent the last 25 years doing nothing but training, they'd still be a few centuries behind us."

A sudden surge of reiatsu nearby drew the attention of all four Arrancar immediately, and a few heartbeats later a huge _garganta_ was ripped open before them, hovering over a nearby tower.

"Oh, really?" a harsh, mocking voice spoke out of the gaping maw as Shiro stepped into the light, followed by the rest of Byakuya's chosen kill squad. "Care to put those words to the test, Aron?"

"Well, this isn't exactly how I envisioned starting off my morning," Saika grumbled casually, but everyone could feel his aura shift into one composed of rock-solid killing intent. "Still," he finished as a grin flashed onto his face and his orange eyes gleamed with bloodlust,

"This should be fun regardless."

The four Arrancar split off in bursts of _sonido_, breaking up the Shinigami attack force and setting off explosions of power all throughout Las Noches as they clashed.

* * *

............................

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**A/N:** Man, more intensity. Hope the chapter was enjoyable despite its decidedly bleak tone, and as usual, **please review**! Big ups as always to **JasoTheArtisan** for beta'ing with the endurance of a pro triathelete.


	5. Gambit

**Triumph**

**Chapter 5: **Gambit

* * *

Ulquiorra felt a cool wind brush against his face as consciousness returned to him sluggishly and he exhaled slowly. He decided against opening his eyes, however, out of concern that full awareness would bring the weight of his injuries crashing down upon him as well.

"Looks like he's finally coming to, boss," a deep, gruff voice spoke out from above him.

"Well done," a cool, calm voice that cut with the purpose of a sword's blade replied. "You may leave us, Kizura."

The hard _thud_ of large feet trudging away faded gradually into the distance, and Ulquiorra waited a few more moments before opening his eyes.

"Welcome to the Menos Forest, Schiffer," the calm voice spoke out again, and when Ulquiorra's green eyes locked gazes with a pair of equally intense violet ones he finally recognized the speaker as Wonderwice Margera. The former Espada's face had aged some over the years since they'd last met, a hardness coming into his features that finally matched the capacity for ruthlessness that lurked in his eyes.

"What's going on?" Ulquiorra asked as he forced himself up onto his elbows before shifting into a sitting position and rising, fighting to keep from swaying as he stood.

"You got pulled down here after you killed Barragan, and one of my Hollows brought you to me."

Before Wonderwice could continue, though, a powerful shockwave of reiatsu emanated from above the ceiling of the Forest that shook the mammoth trees to their roots.

"Looks like it's started," he mused, turning his calculating gaze up to the earthen roof. "I wonder how long the Arrancar will be able to hold out."

"You still haven't answered my question, Margera," Ulquiorra said stonily, his temper returning with the strength that seeped back into his limbs.

"It appears as though the Shinigami have finally decided to break the truce they made with us at the end of the War, Ulquiorra," Wonderwice answered. "There's been a change of leadership at the top of the Gotei; Byakuya Kuchiki has taken over the seat of power, and the Arrancar have entered the twilight of their existence."

"And you're not going to their aid?"

"Of course not," Wonderwice parried. "I'm not going to step onto those killing fields and get slaughtered for no reason; I was never part of the pact Eris, Stark and Saika made with the Shinigami, and their fates are none of my concern whatsoever."

"You do realize that this isn't going to be the only attack, correct?" Ulquiorra pressed sharply as the explosions of reiatsu continued to reverberate above them. "They'll come again and again, and eventually they'll ferret you out and butcher you like a dog. That's why you bothered to revive me, isn't it? You're looking for allies."

Wonderwice smiled with cold amusement at the perceptive analysis, his eyes ceding the point to Uquiorra.

"It seems as though your years of wandering have done nothing to dull the sharpness of your mind, Schiffer," he said. "Clearly, your reputation was well-deserved.

"I wanted to make sure that you would still be able to act as a competent soldier in the battle to come before I shared what I know with you, but you've dispelled my doubts."

"What are you blabbering about, Margera? You yourself just said the other Espada were finished; what possible battle could just the two of us fight alone?"

"I have it on very good authority that Kuchiki isn't aiming to eradicate the other Arrancar outright," Wonderwice explained. "He's going to execute them publicly instead, as a move to solidify his power and reputation in Soul Society.

"You know what that means, don't you, Ulquiorra?"

A grim smile spread over the other Arrancar's face and he nodded.

"One question, Wonderwice."

"Hmm?"

"Whose 'good authority' are you acting on?"

The other Arrancar revealed the name of his source, and Ulquiorra's smile widened as his last reservations melted away.

"So for now," Ulquiorra spoke as he sat down on a nearby rock, "we wait?"

Wonderwice turned his eyes up to the battle raging aboveground that he could not see and sighed.

"Now we wait."

* * *

The sun hung at its zenith in the sky as the Captains of the Gotei gathered for another summit, the members of the expedition fresh from the field of battle and still bearing their war wounds. Byakuya was surprised by the swift victory of his soldiers, but there would be time for celebrating later.

"Report."

"We managed to capture Eris, Saika and Grimmjow," Yumichika spoke for the group. "Stark fought to the bitter end and refused to be captured, most likely because he had nothing to lose. Barragan was nowhere to be found, but judging by the fact that we found his _fraccion_ Ggio Vega wandering the sands alone before we killed him, I believe we can safely assume that Luisenbarn is dead."

"And what of Margera and Schiffer?" Byakuya pressed, and Hisagi stepped in for his fellow Captain.

"We couldn't feel a trace of either of them," the Ninth's leader said. "We suspect they might be taking refuge in the underground of Hueco Mundo, but that Forest is complex and treacherous; sending in normal soldiers to ascertain their location first would be wiser than sending in Captains without knowing exactly where they are."

"Quite so," Byakuya agreed with a nod. "That operation will be undertaken in due time. For now, however, it is more important that we deal with the captives we were able to snare. Captain Orihime, please go down into the Maggot's Nest, pay our prisoners a visit and relieve them of their weapons; merely storing their zanpakuto in an armory, no matter how secure it might seem, is an unnecessary risk."

"Of course," Orihime acquiesced with a nod, before excusing herself from the meeting and walking out. Byakuya motioned that the Meeting was over, but as the other Captains filed out Shunsui stayed behind and waited until he was alone with Byakuya before speaking.

"I assume you mean to execute them all, Byakuya?"

"Of course."

"Even Retsu?"

The Captain Commander let the weight of the question hang pendulously in the air for a few moments before he answered, trying to discern the angle Shunsui was playing here.

"Especially Unohana," Byakuya replied evenly, his hard eyes unmoved by what he perceived as a plea to save the Shinigami's life. "She poses a threat to me as long as she breathes, and I'm not bound to her by the same sentimentality that tethers you. Do you mean to stand against me if I follow through with her sentence, Kyoraku?"

Shunsui chuckled, putting his hands up palms-out in a gesture of refutation.

"This isn't a declaration of war, Byakuya; I'm not that stupid. This is a piece of advice: do what you want with the Arrancar, but leave Unohana alive. Killing her now would do nothing but harm you."

"Oh?" Byakuya said, arching a curious eyebrow. "How so?"

"Despite the unrest in the Rukongai on the fringes and in the more violent Districts, there are still several that have grown and prospered thanks to Retsu's goodwill and dedication to creating a sense of equality between everyone in Soul Society. She is still loved by the people, and killing her, either privately or publicly, will still produce the same result: people will riot in great numbers, and cause a huge logistical headache at the worst possible time."

"And you're saying that even if it were to be done privately," Byakuya parried, "word would still spread to the common rabble?"

"News travels fast, Byakuya," Shunsui answered with an enigmatic smile before turning around and walking towards the door. "Just think about what I've said before you make a decision you might wind up regretting."

Byakuya bristled at the implied threat, but it was true that Shunsui's power was too great to alienate. That, and Unohana left powerless and captive in the Maggot's Nest was virtually the same as killing her anyway.

For now, the Captain Commander conceded, she would live.

* * *

Orihime despised traveling down into the Maggot's Nest; the stench of rot, neglect and decay offended her core sensibilities as a healer. And the fact that she was down here as Byakuya's errand dog stung deeply, but she shelved those feelings as she stepped into the room that housed the prisoners she'd been tasked with visiting.

"That bastard don't waste any time, does he?" Gin said with a snake's smoothness in his voice and an equally slippery smile on his face.

"No," Orihime agreed as she placed the armload of zanpakuto she'd been carrying on the floor, "he doesn't."

From Saika's spear to Gin's _wakizashi_, the zanpakuto of each of the captives were soon arrayed in a line on the floor, seething with resentment at being separated from their masters.

"I'm going to need each of you to try and remain as quiet as you can while I do this," the Captain said firmly as she began to summon her _Soten Kisshun_. "If I'm going to pull this off right, I need to be able to concentrate completely, without any distractions."

As Orihime began the rejection process and the zanpakuto before her began to dissolve under the golden glow of the light, each of the prisoners shut their eyes and their faces contorted in pain, but Orihime closed her eyes to the sight and kept working. She couldn't afford to mess this up…

As the dissipation continued, Grimmjow fought hard enough against the pain to open his eyes, and saw something that made shock supplant a majority of his agony: Orihime hadn't completely banished the zanpakuto, but had rather broken them down into their purest possible forms, as masses of raw reiatsu, and had begun to blend them all together into one incredibly dense sphere. It began to spin faster and faster as it shrunk more and more, the dome of the _Soten Kisshun_ shrinking along with it, until the two bodies merged into a single orb before splitting apart and re-emerging as Orihime's twin hairpins.

"That should do it," she said through gasps as she got her second wind.

"What're you planning on doing with 'em, kid?" Grimmjow asked, still surprised that a stunt like that could even be pulled to begin with. But rather than answer, the Shinigami turned to face Eris and spoke, her gray eyes locking firmly with the Arrancar's bright jade ones.

"Is Ulquiorra still alive?"

The _Primera_ seemed to intuit Orihime's thoughts and smiled.

"I can't say for certain," she answered, "but I can tell you that I haven't seen his corpse, and he wasn't involved in the battle against the Shinigami. If you aim to search for him, I would start in the Menos Forest, underneath the surface of Hueco Mundo."

Orihime nodded in gratitude and left without another word, and the air was still for several moments before Saika broke the silence.

"Why'd you tell her that?" he said with as much harshness as he could direct toward his lover. "Right now, Ulquiorra's probably our best shot at getting out of here alive!"

"That's exactly why she told her where he was," Gin spoke up from his prone position on his cot, before closing his eyes and saying no more.

* * *

"It's done, Inoue?"

"Yes, Captain Commander," Orihime lied through her teeth as she tried to keep her composure even in the face of Byakuya's searching gaze, "it's done. The prisoners' zanpakuto have been destroyed."

"Excellent. Well done, Captain; you may go."

"May I ask a favor of you, Captain Commander?" Fourth's Captain spoke up quickly, and Byakuya nodded shortly in permission for her to continue.

"I would like to journey to Hueco Mundo, to search for the Arrancar Ulquiorra Schiffer."

"None of the members of our strike force could find him, Orihime," Byakuya said over the rim of his sake cup before taking a sip, "what makes you think you will succeed where they failed?"

Orihime took in a breath before she answered, steeling her nerves one last time.

"During the War," she began, "Ulquiorra and I were close; I would say I was his best friend next to Neliel. I believe that, since I know him better than any of the other Captains, I stand the best chance of finding him."

"And once you do?" Byakuya prodded. "Do you think you would be able to overlook your past friendship and take his head?"

"I haven't heard from him since the day the truce was signed, Sir," Orihime answered evenly. "Any shred of companionship we may have shared once has long since withered away."

Byakuya gave a faint smile, draining his cup before placing it down lightly on the table before him.

"Very well," he said at last, "I give you my permission to go on this mission. However," he added, and Orihime had to fight back a shiver at the malice that slipped into Byakuya's voice in that moment, "take Shiro with you as an escort. I can't afford to lose the best healer in all of the Gotei in case this mission goes awry, now can I?"

"Of course not," she replied calmly, feeling an acidic tang in her mouth as she forced back down the bile that had risen in her throat.

"You may depart whenever you're ready, Captain," Byakuya said in closing, and Orihime bowed tersely before turning and leaving.

* * *

"So," Shiro's hard voice grated as the pair touched down in Hueco Mundo, "why're you _really_ looking for Ulquiorra? 'Cause I know you aren't strong enough to kill him, that's for sure."

"Shut up," Orihime grit out, fighting the urge to stab her _katana_ through her former lover's ribcage. "Just seal that _garganta_ you opened and let's get going."

Shiro chuckled as he closed the rift behind him with a flick of his wrist, the whining sound flaring briefly before it ceased as the silence of the desert rushed back in to fill the void.

"I'm done," the Hollow said flippantly. "Waitin' on you."

Orihime said nothing, instead focusing and calling out her _Koten Zanshun_, using it to carve a large square in the sand. The ground fell with a soft rumble, giving way to the beckoning pitch-blackness of the Menos Forest. Retracting the cutting blade, she called out her _Santen Kesshun_ shield in its place and turned it on its side, stepping onto it and waiting until Shiro had joined her before lowering it down onto the forest floor.

"How good are your senses down here, Orihime?"

"Why are you even asking me, Shiro?" she spat back. "You're the Hollow here, aren't you? This should be like a homecoming for you, right?"

"I didn't come from Hueco Mundo, you idiot," he shot back, "I was created inside that weakling Ichigo. This place has never been, and will never be my home. Just answer the damn question."

Orihime whirled around and brought her _katana_ down in a sharp slash, but Shiro stopped it on the flat of his palm without even flinching.

"So touchy," he mused lightly, before the cold steel of Zangetsu rushed in out of nowhere and settled against the beating pulse of Orihime's neck.

"Try anything like that again," the Hollow hissed, "and orders or no orders, I'll cut your fucking throat open."

The mammoth cleaver pulled back from her flesh and Orihime took in a shaky breath, furious that she had been rendered helpless so effortlessly. If Shiro had really been serious, her head could have rolled right then and there…

"Oi, stop screwing around and start looking for Ulquiorra and that bastard Wonderwice!"

Shiro's jagged voice shattered her thoughts and the Shinigami pulled herself together, closing her eyes and extending her reiatsu out in threads like feelers as far as they could go. Just as she was about to give up and retract them, another reiatsu that was foreign but at the same time achingly familiar latched onto one of the threads, following it swiftly back to the source.

_Come, Orihime._

There was no mistaking the strength of the tone as the words resonated in her mind: it was Ulquiorra.

"I found him," she spoke to Shiro, her voice trembling slightly from a combination of fear and excitement. "Follow me."

"Is he alone?" the Hollow asked as the pair of them raced along the ground, Orihime only pausing to wonder at the absence of any wild Hollow before replying.

"Yes, I think so," she answered, and Shiro chuckled.

"What a moron; I'll kill him easily. You sure you wanna be around to watch?"

Orihime said nothing, only curving the corners of her mouth up into a smirk that Shiro, running behind her, could not see. The fatigue of breaking down so many zanpakuto was finally beginning to weigh down on the Shinigami when she and Shiro were suddenly fixed to the spot by an immense amount of reiatsu, their strides frozen in place as the power pressed down on them, driving the breath from their lungs. Orihime fought to stay upright as long as she could, but the strength of the reiatsu proved to be too much and she collapsed, driven to the brink of consciousness.

Shiro set his feet and let out a counter-surge of reiatsu, a manic grin splitting his face as he felt the pressure give ground. Pouring more and more strength into his own burst of energy, the Hollow was finally rewarded for his efforts as he felt the oppressive reiatsu weaken suddenly and all but vanish.

Just as he finished throwing off the yoke of the foreign weight, though, Shiro gasped and coughed reflexively as pain shot through his stomach. Looking down, he saw that the blade of a long-sword had pierced his lung, blood dripping from the point of the weapon.

"Thank you for dropping your guard long enough for me to get behind you," a cold, calculating voice cut through his pain. "Even if it was enjoyable watching you struggle against the reiatsu Ulquiorra and I were emanating, this is much more gratifying."

Shiro's eyes widened in surprise as he recognized the voice.

"Wonderwice," he hissed, "you underhanded little shit… you haven't changed at all since the day I forced you to retreat from our duel."

"I've been waiting 25 years to pay you back for those scars, you feral garbage," the Arrancar said as he twisted the blade of his zanpakuto, causing Shiro to go rigid with pain. "I'm going to enjoy this."

Wonderwice disappeared in a powerful buzz of _sonido_, taking the Hollow with him and leaving Orihime behind, lying on the ground and breathing shallowly. Ulquiorra walked slowly towards her, the crippling weight of reiatsu that he had helped generate evaporating completely. It had pained him to force her to crumble like that, but there had been no way to ensnare Shiro and keep her from being caught as well. Dropping down into a squat, Ulquiorra reached out with a pair of fingers and placed them against Orihime's neck, allowing himself to relax slightly when he felt her normal pulse beneath the skin.

"Orihime," he said softly, not wanting to shock her when she came to, "wake up."

The Shinigami opened her eyes lethargically at the sound of his voice, and Ulquiorra was surprised to see that the strain of being a Captain in the Gotei all of these years had nothing to diminish her beauty.

"I knew that was your voice back there, Ulquiorra," she said, her strength beginning to return as her _Shun Shun Rikka_ spirits boosted her weakened reiatsu. Orihime took in the face of her close friend and former teacher carefully, drinking in every detail and surprised at how noticeable each small change to his features was, from the hard lines his cheekbones had gained to the hollow look in his eyes.

"Are you all right?" she asked concernedly. "You look terrible."

Ulquiorra chuckled to himself at the solicitous question. Asking after his wellbeing when she was the one lying exhausted on the ground; some things never changed after all.

"I'm fine," he answered, but he knew as soon as a familiar frown furrowed Orihime's eyebrows that his lie had been seen through with ease.

"You expect me to believe that crap, Ulquiorra?" she said sternly, eyes narrowing in a way that was supposed to be threatening but that the Arrancar had always found oddly precious. "You're obviously lying to me, and—and why are you smiling!? This isn't funny, you—"

Orihime's words froze on her tongue as she realized that Ulquiorra was _genuinely_ smiling… not the look of detached satisfaction he had displayed whenever she had mastered a sword-fighting concept, or the slightly melancholy smirk he had shown whenever he was feeling particularly introspective, but a real smile, one of happiness.

"It's good to see you again, Orihime."

There was a warmth and sincerity to his words that Orihime hadn't heard from anyone in ages, least of all Shiro. Feeling her heartbeat accelerate, she moved on instinct and moved one of her hands behind Ulquiorra's head, twining her fingers through his hair and pulling his face towards hers. The kiss began warmly as Orihime let her years of pent-up frustration at Shiro's neglect of her transform into happiness at seeing Ulquiorra again after so long apart, but as she felt no move on his part to reciprocate her feelings quickly turned into shame and she broke away from him.

What was she doing? Ulquiorra had spent all of these years mourning the loss of his first and only loved one, a trauma he probably still hadn't gotten over, and the first thing she'd done had been to kiss him? Stupid, stupid, stu—

Orihime's self-chastisement came to an abrupt halt as her lips were suddenly captured by Ulquiorra's, their earlier unresponsiveness gone completely and replaced by a disarming combination of tenderness, desire and need. Now it was her turn to be shocked, but Orihime came to her senses quickly and pushed back. Ulquiorra was surprised by her strength and found himself on the ground, his old student pinning him there with her body and continuing her assault on his senses with her kiss. As he ceded some ground and let his mouth open, allowing her tongue to claim dominance over his own, Ulquiorra tried a different tack and moved one of his hands from her waist to rest at the base of her neck. Focusing a miniscule amount of reiatsu at his fingertips, he traced a line directly down Orihime's spine, cutting her _haori_ and underlying kimono in half while causing the skin beneath them to grow warm, pushing the multitude of nerves along Orihime's spine into overdrive.

Her moan at the sensation echoed in Ulquiorra's own mouth, and he smirked to himself as he claimed the small victory. He was unprepared for her counterattack, though, and was caught totally off-guard as Orihime manipulated her own reiatsu along her body and shaped it, using it like needles to strike his pressure points. His body relaxed completely, unable to move but still able to feel.

"Don't think you're the only one with tricks up your sleeve, _sensei_," she whispered into his ear, the teasing tone of her final word sending a shudder through him that he was powerless to stop. Orihime mercilessly kept up her attack, taking time to learn what made the Arrancar beneath her tick.

Ulquiorra felt himself slipping further and further into blissful incoherence, but forced himself to stay vigilant for the moment that she slipped up and he could make Orihime pay for this. There was a passion and fire to her that he'd never felt with Neliel, and Ulquiorra could only hope that Wonderwice was making Shiro pay for being an utter fool driving away such a woman. He had managed to root out most of her needles after a couple of minutes of her exquisite torture, but remained motionless in order to keep Orihime ignorant of the change. When she grazed the scar on his pectoral that had once held his '4' tattoo with a series of light kisses, though, Ulquiorra's vaunted self-control snapped and he returned both of his hands to her waist, flipping their positions with a swift turn.

Giving rare free reign to his instincts, Ulquiorra passed up on the chance to make his former student feel just how agonizing it was to be treated the way he had been just now. Instead, he simply tore away what was left of her uniform and focused on pushing her to the edge as fast as he possibly could. Right as he felt her tense up from his ministrations, he entered her in one smooth movement and sent her beyond the limit of her own self-control.

"Ulquiorra!"

Hearing his name spoken that way again after so long, with care and affection anchored by something deeper, more akin to reverence, had the unexpected effect on the Arrancar of totally upending his own restraint. The two of them came in unison before the strength fled completely from Ulquiorra's limbs and he sunk down on top of the Shinigami, laying there for a moment before rolling slowly over and laying beside her, exhausted.

"Orihime," he said after a moment, his voice as unguarded as she had heard it on the night she'd re-forged his zanpakuto, "could you heal this scar for me?" he finished, gesturing to the white tissue on his pectoral. "It's a burden I carried as a reminder of my weakness, but I think I've borne it long enough."

Orihime smiled gently and nodded, calling out her _Soten Kisshun_ and restoring the flesh to Ulquiorra's chest. When she had finished she put her hand to her forehead and winced, as if the simple action had caused her enormous strain.

"Are you all right?" Ulquiorra asked with a note of worry in his voice, and Orihime nodded despite her expression.

"I'll be fine," she assured him. "It's just that using my _Soten Kisshun_ is a pain with the energy from all of the zanpakuto I've been carrying around stored in my _Shun Shun Rikka_ spirits."

"Zanpakuto? What are you talking about?"

The Shinigami didn't say anything more, instead calling out all of her spirits at once and arranging them in a hexagonal formation on the ground that began to glow. A sphere of incredibly concentrated reiatsu appeared in the middle of the field and began to grow, its rotation slowing down more and more as it grew until it became so big that it finally split apart, separating into seven distinct shapes. A few moments later those shapes had solidified themselves into zanpakuto and the _Shun Shun Rikka_ spirits vanished altogether, leaving the weapons behind on the ground in their wake.

"These are the zanpakuto of those Byakuya is holding captive back in Soul Society," Orihime explained. "He believes that I destroyed them, but I was just holding onto them in a different form with my powers until I could entrust them to you."

"And you assume I have a plan for thwarting their executions, Orihime?" Ulquiorra parried confusedly. "Even with you on our side, storming the Seireitei wouldn't be easy—"

"I'm not staying here, Ulquiorra," the Shinigami said, her voice laced with regret. "I hate to leave now, after finally seeing you again for so long, and after what we just shared, but… but there're people counting on me in Soul Society, and I have to be there to help them."

"Byakuya will kill you if he finds out what you've done, Orihime," Ulquiorra replied gravely, but she just smiled.

"Maybe," she acquiesced, "but that's a risk I have to take. Besides," Orihime continued, her tone becoming light again, "I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to convince the others that we fought, considering the shape you left my clothes in."

Ulquiorra flashed a small smile at the joke, but his eyes still shone strongly with apprehension at her decision.

"Are the two of you finished?"

Both pairs of eyes snapped over to behold Wonderwice, who was leaning against the trunk of an ancient tree and wearing the slashed-up _haori_ of the Fifth Division over his shoulders, an inscrutable smirk on his face as he looked off into the distance. Orihime felt a blush flare up on her cheeks and quickly used reiatsu to stitch together her tattered clothing, leaving only as many cuts on it as would be necessary to convince Byakuya that she'd actually fought Ulquiorra. The Arrancar next to her had been fortunate enough to have his garments survive intact, so he did nothing more than fix his ally with a searching gaze.

"What happened with Shiro, Wonderwice?"

"I chopped his body up into pieces and fed it to Fuura," the other Arrancar replied casually. "Now that big guy should be more than ready to help us with our plan."

"'Our' plan?" Ulquiorra repeated with mild incredulity. "I fail to see how that phrasing is appropriate, considering that I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I'm talking about foiling the Shinigami's execution of their prisoners, Ulquiorra," Wonderwice elaborated. "With Fuura's power, summoning multiple _negacion_ beams in an instant will be no problem at all."

"And I take it that this is 'his' idea as well?" Ulquiorra pressed, and Wonderwice nodded.

"Of course. Captain Orihime," he continued, shifting his cold violet eyes to the Shinigami who was now standing upright, "I believe you have somewhere to be, no?"

Wonderwice opened up a _garganta_ with a gesture, but Ulquiorra grabbed Orihime's wrist to stop her as she went to enter it.

"Don't you think it would be more than a little suspicious if you showed up without a scratch on you?" he explained as she gave him a questioning gaze, before forming a knife-like edge of energy and readying it in his hand.

"Don't worry," he assured her, stepping in closer until only a fraction of an inch separated them, "you won't feel a thing."

Any pain that might have sprung up from the swift cuts etched into her skin by Ulquiorra's impromptu knife was blotted out by the sensation that Orihime experienced as he gently kissed her. After a few moments he backed away, the blade dissipating into the air.

"Those should look grievous enough, but they'll mend quickly," the Arrancar said with subtle concern in his voice, and Orihime flashed him one last smile before turning and walking through the rift of the _garganta_. When they were alone again, Wonderwice gave a breathy chuckle.

"If she'd really asked you to attack the Seireitei, you would have, wouldn't you?"

Ulquiorra said nothing and vanished in a burst of _sonido_, leaving Wonderwice to marvel at the power that woman held over someone as strong as Ulquiorra without even realizing it.

* * *

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**A/N:** Just one more chapter to go, ladies and gents! Hope this one was fun to read, and as always, **please review**! Big ups once more to **JasoTheArtisan** for being an expert beta; go read his ish, and then tell him how awesome it is by reviewing it.

As far as Wonderwice goes in this chapter, I left one of the abilities I imagined for him a little vague, so I thought I'd elaborate here. I see him as a sort of 'Hollow Whisperer' in a sense, someone who can influence, manipulate and, if need be, outright control the actions of lesser Hollows through his weird, semi-autistic form of communication. Language is a powerful thing, after all, and Wonderwice is fluent in the language of the Hollows.

Also, because I forgot to stick this in the Author's Note for the previous chapter, Chapter 4's title comes from the song by the band **Mastodon** called "**The Czar**", which is all kinds of awesome.


	6. Wunderkind

**Triumph**

**Chapter 6: **Wunderkind

* * *

Orihime walked through the darkness of the void with calm and happiness radiating from her stride, feeling more fulfilled than she had in years. Some part of her felt as though she should be mourning for Shiro, but she quickly suppressed that instinct as her mind reminded her that the Hollow had been responsible for Kaien Shiba's death and her body recalled the feeling of Zangetsu's cold steel being pressed against her neck. The pain of the wounds Ulquiorra had given her had dulled to an annoyingly persistent ache, but still looked fresh enough to be convincing. Walking on until she had reached the boundary of the first District of the Rukongai, Orihime used her _Koten Zanshun_ to strengthen her _katana_ and cut a rift through the void, stepping out back into the light of Soul Society.

Hoping that some of the acting tips she had picked up from Rukia over the years would finally pay off, the Captain disappeared in a flash of _shunpo_ and hurried towards the First Division's Headquarters.

"Shiro is dead?"

"His last act was to open up a _garganta_ for me to escape through, Sir," Orihime answered Byakuya, hoping that he bought the story. "I managed to defeat Ulquiorra, but Wonderwice was with him and took out Shiro easily before going after me. Shiro revived long enough to stall him and open up the _garganta_; after that I can't be sure what happened, but I'm certain Shiro would have chosen death over surrender."

"I see," Byakuya spoke after a moment, "how unfortunate that we lost such a strong warrior. But he was a beast at his core all the same, and at least his sacrifice helped to bring down Ulquiorra. Do you have anything else to report, Captain?"

"No, Sir, I do not," Orihime answered, inwardly immensely relieved that Byakuya had believed her story.

"Very well, then; you may go. The execution of the prisoners is slated to begin at noon, in a few hours. I trust you will be in attendance?"

"Of course."

Byakuya watched her go and smiled to himself: he was fairly sure that Orihime was lying, but it didn't matter at this point. He would use her for her powers as long as they were necessary, and when it got to the point that the object he had found in a secret safe in Unohana's former quarters could be fully relied upon, she would be dealt with accordingly.

* * *

The door to the room deep inside the Maggot's Nest swung open with a creak, and the heads of the prisoners rose collectively to regard what they assumed would be the white-robed Shinigami who had come to lead them off to their execution. Instead, the visitors were black-uniform-clad Shinigami that had thuggish dispositions and murderous, vindictive looks in their eyes.

"Looks like we got here in time after all," one of them said with a sharp, leering edge in his voice, "Byakuya said we could exact some of our own justice on you freaks before the execution, so long as we didn't kill you."

Héctor charged at the one who had called him a freak, the shackles around his wrists holding him back scant inches from the bars of his cell as he all-but snarled at the Shinigami like a caged beast.

"Héctor, calm down!"

The hard words coming from his father stilled the Vizard's tirade at once, and he gave him a questioning glance as the black faded from the corners of his eyes.

"They want to see you break, kid," Grimmjow said seriously. "Don't give them that satisfaction."

"You can put up as much of a front as you want, Arrancar," another one of the Shinigami crowed, "But your reactions will show you for the beast you are."

The door of Soi Fon's cell was wrenched open, but the Captain didn't even flinch as a trio of Shinigami walked in and surrounded her.

"Héctor," she said as evenly as she could, "It'll be all right."

The first blow was a crippling strike to the solar plexus, but Soi Fon had been expecting that and her tightened muscles absorbed most of the impact. Unfortunately, that also meant that the subsequent strike aimed at her arm met no resistance whatsoever, and the sickening sound of snapping bone echoed off the walls with a crack.

Grimmjow wanted to move. Every muscle in his arms was tensed, chafing painfully against his restraints. His teeth were grinding against each other as he forced his mouth to remain shut because he knew that if he opened it he would roar. And there was no way he was going break in front of these Shinigami bastards, and especially not in front of his son.

Blows rained down on Soi Fon without mercy, but her mouth remained set in a determined line as she resolved not to so much as groan in pain, no matter how hard the bastards decided to strike her.

"Enough, enough!" the lead Shinigami called out after a few minutes of beating. "We need to keep these shit-stains alive for their execution, and if we keep going like this I might not be able to hold myself back. Besides," he finished, glancing around at the other cells as his Shinigami companions advanced on them, "I'm more than happy to just watch the rest of this unfold."

The remaining Shinigami advanced on Grimmjow, Gin, Héctor, Eris and Saika, but Unohana's cell remained closed. The former Captain Commander turned to regard a lone Shinigami who stood faceless in the shadows, her voice unusually sharp.

"Why is no one coming for me?"

"Someone convinced Byakuya to spare you from execution, Unohana," they said, the voice disguised through the use of some _kido_ and their reiatsu signature surprisingly hard to pinpoint.

"His orders are to spare you alone; everyone else is fair game."

Unohana bowed her head in silent grief and shame, wishing that she could do something to relieve one of her fellow captives' suffering but powerless to do so. The metallic smell of blood was soon hanging thick in the air, both from the wounds of the prisoners and the skinned knuckles of their punishers.

Saika watched his lover gradually being reduced to a bloody pulp and his heart began to break in agonizing shame and anger, but his guilt only did so much to divert the Arrancar's attention from the pain his own body was being put through at the hands of the Shinigami torturing him. His right arm and left leg had been broken, and his other arm was following close behind its brethren.

"You took down my Captain Komamura during the War," one of the Shinigami that was beating him spoke. "I'm going to pay you back for that!"

"I can't say I begrudge you that," Saika rasped as the ribs that had just been broken rattled in his chest, "but this is a pretty petty way to even the scales, don't you think?"

The only response the Arrancar's attacker gave him was letting loose with another vicious right hook.

_Saika, you idiot,_ Eris thought sadly as she watched him slump over, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. _Stop antagonizing them. If you get yourself killed here and leave me on my own to face the executioner, I'll never forgive you!_

Gin had expected the backlash against him to be the worst, and he wasn't disappointed; within a few minutes, his attackers had decided to stop throwing punch after punch against his flesh and had instead unsheathed their swords, cutting with enough precision to cause pain without excessive bleeding. Bloodlust finally got to one of the men's heads, though, and the blade of his weapon lashed out right at Gin's neck.

"_Stop._"

The single word of command was strong enough to make all of the Shinigami stopped their current attacks in mid-strike.

"It's time for them to march out to the execution grounds," the idle Shinigami who had been cloaked in the shadows up until now said as they stepped forward into the light, revealing a dark-haired young woman with sharp gray-blue eyes. "Now get the hell out of here, and let the devotees do their jobs."

"Fucking Fourth Division rat," the one who had almost severed Gin's head growled, "who the hell are you to boss me around!?"

The Shinigami charged his comrade in blind rage, and in the moment he entered her sword's reach, a grin flashed across Amara's face that would have been at home on her father's face.

"You idiot."

She disappeared and reappeared in a double-flash of _shunpo_, her would-be attacker falling into the dirt dead behind her as Amara flicked the blood off of the blade of her sealed zanpakuto and re-sheathed it calmly.

"Anyone who wants to join him on the ground can stay," she declared to the gathered thugs. "Otherwise, get out of here."

The Shinigami saw the seriousness smoldering in Amara's eyes and they scrambled for the exit, leaving her alone with the bruised and battered prisoners.

"You certainly took your time, kid," Gin said with knowing smugness, a smirk on his face no less taunting than his normal grin.

"If I'd known that was the kind of thank-you I was going to get, you bastard," Amara seethed, "I would have just let him kill you back there."

"No, you wouldn't have," Gin parried almost happily, as the other prisoners apart from Héctor and Unohana, who knew what was going on, looked at the arguing duo in confusion.

"You wouldn't have killed me," Gin repeated with cool assurance, "because you want answers, Amara."

The younger Shinigami smirked despite herself, breathing out a bitter chuckle.

"This is the first time I've ever seen you," she said, "and after all of two minutes I already despise you, father."

Gin's eyes opened fully at her acknowledgment of their blood relation, but the smirk remained on his face.

"This isn't the first time you've seen me, kid."

"What are you talking about?" the younger Shinigami asked in confusion, Gin's smile vanished instantly as his tone became serious, his garnet eyes narrowing as he regarded his daughter keenly.

"The wilds outside of the Rukongai. Five years ago, when you were on that exploration mission. Do you remember that?"

"I don't think I'll ever forget it," Amara answered distractedly, already being pulled back into the memory.

* * *

_All she could smell on the air was the metallic scent of blood as the mission went from bad to worse before jumping off the edge of a cliff and free-falling into a total catastrophe._

"_Iura!"_

"_Damn it, Amara," the Eleventh Division soldier ground out as he strained to keep his block up against the claw of the massive Hollow that was currently trying to decapitate him, "just get the hell out of here! Someone from Fourth Division has no place in combat!"_

_Amara bristled at the implied jab in her companion's words, but when Iura's guard broke and the claw sliced him clean in half, she began to think about taking his advice and hurrying back to the Seireitei. The giant, sphinx-like Hollow reared its head back and let out a single shrill screech, bringing both Amara and her two surviving comrades to their knees. Sloppy_ garganta _opened up all around them moments later, and what had started as a single Huge Hollow had now become several._

"_Holy shit!" one of the other two Shinigami shouted, before hastily calling out his zanpakuto. "Tell me there's backup on the way!"_

"_I put the call in as soon as this bastard showed up," the other warrior answered, "but it looks like we're gonna have to hold these monsters off until they arrive!"_

"_So much for this being an easy reconnaissance mission," the one who had spoken earlier grumbled. "Hey, Fourth Squad," he shouted out to Amara, using the derisive nickname he'd given her at the beginning of the day, "if you want to make yourself useful, run away and shout out as loud as you can. If the backup hears you screaming, maybe they'll hurry up!"_

_Amara's killer instinct spiked up sharply at the taunt, and for a moment she weighed the good and bad of just slicing off this asshole's head and dealing with the Hollows herself. She didn't have long to deliberate before the horde decided to strike, and the three Shinigami scrambled to stay alive. _

"Spring, Kousho!"

_Arcs of light tore through the air and sliced through Hollows as Amara danced and spun, leaping out of the way of massive punches and claw swipes as her enemies tried with more and more fervor to bring her down. Two of the Hollows worked in tandem to trap their prey, one forcing the Shinigami to dodge left while the other let loose with a blast of energy that slammed into Amara's midsection with crushing force, causing a crimson stain to darken her teeth and lips. Straining the shocked muscles in her limbs to stay tense, she barely managed to right herself and twist to the side, a claw that would have sheared her clean in half tearing a nasty gash across her stomach instead. _

_Buckling under the weight of her wounds at last, Amara pulled out a last-ditch technique and created an image of herself with her zanpakuto's power before flashing away, hoping that the Hollows would go after the bait and give her enough time to heal at least a few of her wounds. As she focused the rest of her energy into healing kido and concentrated on patching up her injuries, however, Amara was horrified to see a shadow loom over her. Turning around, she saw that one of the Hollows hadn't fallen for her decoy, and was about to pound her into mush on the ground with its mammoth fists._

"Bakudo number 39: Enkosen!"

_The shield was able to deter the blow, but the Hollow wasn't about to give up and reared back its other fist, now even more enraged and determined to kill his foe._

_But then a surge of reiatsu rose up from out of nowhere as an impossibly long_ wakizashi _blade shot through the Hollow's skull, shattering it into pieces as the monster evaporated into thin air before it had even known what had struck it. _

"_Boy, this takes me back," a light, masculine and totally unconcerned voice spoke out. Amara turned to see who her savior was, but the only thing she could make out was a black cloak the man was wearing, which obscured him completely from view._

"_I wish I had enough time to have more fun with all of you," the unknown Shinigami spoke to the crowd of Hollows that had now turned to evaluate this new threat, "but the backup's gonna be here soon, and they can't be seein' me, now can they? 'Sides, you had to go and make this personal, and I can't say that makes me_ _very_ _happy."_

_The_ wakizashi's _blade, which had retracted to its normal size, extended again, covered in white light as it raced forwards. The weapon seemed to gain no weight as it grew in size, and the warrior swung it around with ease as it reaped the lives of the Hollows before it like wheat before a scythe._

"_That's better," the Shinigami said happily as the last Hollow vanished, as if he'd been doing nothing more strenuous than cleaning errant papers off of a desk. Turning slightly, he faced Amara. She still couldn't see his face, but she felt something very familiar about him, even if she couldn't place it._

"_You're not the backup?" she managed to ask through the haze of her pain, and the man shook his head._

"_Can't say that I am, kid," he answered. "That was a nice couple 'a moves you pulled off there, if I may say."_

"_Thanks…?" Amara replied, her brows furrowing. "Do I know you?"_

"_No, y'don't," the other Shinigami answered, raising one slim hand up, "and it should stay that way. _

"Hakufu."

_Amara's instincts told her to avoid the knockout _kido_, but there was nothing she could do given the state she was in and a heartbeat later she slipped into unconsciousness. When she woke up the backup from Fifth Division was crowded around her, the lone survivor. _

_When Amara forced herself up onto her elbows and blinked a few times to clear her vision, however, the cloaked man was nowhere to be seen._

* * *

Amara's confusion turned into shock as the pieces of the scattered memory finally fell into place and she realized who had saved her life back then.

"That… that was you?"

"Sure was," Gin answered evenly, and Amara was silent for a few moments, clearly wrestling with herself. Eventually she came to some kind of decision and stepped forward, crouching down beside her wounded father and covering his injuries in the green glow of healing _kido_. When the process was done she rose and looked down at Gin, and the former Captain was sure he could see tears gathering at the corners of her eyes against her will.

"We're even," she said, her voice holding only the barest of trembles. "If I see you again after today, I swear I'll make you pay."

"I look forward to it, Amara," Gin said with rare sincerity and a touch of regret showing in his eyes. The younger Shinigami turned around and walked a few steps before disappearing in a flash of _shunpo_, the sound failing to completely mask her sob.

The room was silent for a few moments before that quiet was broken by Grimmjow, who spoke with all of his characteristic tact.

"They let bastards like you have children?"

Gin smiled dangerously at the provocation, and was about to reply when a group of white-robed Shinigami came into the room and their leader made an announcement.

"It is time," he decreed solemnly. "We shall now guide you to the Soukyoku Hill."

"Took you long enough," Saika grumbled as his shackles were unlocked and replaced with a reiatsu-blocking red collar. "I was starting to get bored over here."

The six prisoners left the room single-file, leaving Unohana alone to ruminate in the darkness.

* * *

The sunlight that slammed into the prisoners' faces as they went above-ground for the first time since their captivity was almost blinding, but they didn't shirk away and instead kept their eyes to the ground as they walked, blocking out the jeers of the crowd that pelted them with curses and refuse as they passed. Still, they walked or limped with as much dignity as they could manage, and after several minutes they found themselves standing on the Hill before Byakuya, who was flanked by a few other Captains who had come to witness the execution. Orihime was among them, but she looked away as Eris attempted to read her with a searching gaze.

"Soi Fon," Byakuya's voice rang out coldly in the silence, "you alone among this filth once wore a Shinigami's _haori_ in combat against the army of Sosuke Aizen. In honor of your service, I am prepared to grant you a final request."

The former Captain of Second Division hesitated for a moment, gathering together what pride she still had and swallowing it whole as she prepared herself to beg for a favor from the monster standing in front of her.

"I have such a request, Kuchiki."

"And that is?"

"I will not ask you to spare my life, nor Grimmjow's," she said evenly, "but please, spare the life of our son. Let him go."

"I see," Byakuya said solemnly, his eyes closed. When he opened them again, however, his steely eyes glinted with cold malice.

"I will grant you this request, Soi Fon," he said, "on one condition:

"Renounce him."

"What?!" Soi Fon exclaimed in shock, as Gin's mouth set itself into a rare frown at Byakuya's words.

"Renounce him as your son," Byakuya answered, his tone still frigid. "Declare him unloved, an enemy, a disgrace, sever him from your thoughts forever, and I will let him live."

"There's a special place in hell for people like you, Byakuya," Gin said coldly, his voice utterly devoid of its normal affectation, "and I'm looking forward to watching you burn there."

"What is your answer, Soi Fon?" the Captain Commander pressed, totally ignoring Gin's words. Soi Fon's fist trembled as she held it clenched, her onyx eyes burning with rage. On one hand, she wanted to do as Byakuya said, and hope that Héctor could see that she had only done what she'd had to do, and hadn't truly meant it. And yet… if she broke here, if she bowed before Byakuya and did what she was told, there was no way she could convince herself that she was lying. And if she couldn't convince herself, there was no way Héctor wouldn't take her words as the truth. Either submit and break her son's heart as the cost of saving his life, or refuse and drag him down to hell with her as the cost of her selfishness: the choice was almost too much to bear.

"Mom," Héctor's voice broke in, emboldened by the fact that he was facing his final moments, "don't even answer him! I'd rather lose my head than see you bow and scrape before this cocksucker!"

"Very well," Byakuya answered coldly, "it seems your brat has made up his mind of his own accord. We shall proceed."

A brief signal later, six hooded executioners took their places silently behind the prisoners and raised their swords in unison, prepared to cut off the heads of those in front of them at a word.

"Do it."

As the blades swung toward the prisoners aimed unerringly in a decapitating blow, the weapons suddenly found themselves shattering harmlessly against a bright barrier of yellow light.

"What the fuck?" Grimmjow spoke in surprise. "_Negacion_?!"

"Oya, this is most certainly unexpected," Gin said with amusement only someone like him could muster having just narrowly avoided death. "I can't say it's unwelcome, though."

"Who…?" Soi Fon breathed out, but a loud tearing sound drowned out the rest of her question as a huge _garganta_ opened up in the sky above them, revealing a single glowing, purple eye amidst the blackness.

"Well, if that ugly thing's here, means Wonderwice must be pullin' its chain," Gin mused as the ground he was standing on was torn from its foundation and began to float upwards. "Man, that kid creeps me out big time."

The shouts of Byakuya and his accompanying Captains faded into a mere buzz as the six escapees reached the _garganta_, stepping into it as the _negacion_ barriers around them all vanished.

"See, Ulquiorra?" a calm, yet smug voice spoke out, "I told you it would work."

The six looked over to behold Wonderwice and Ulquiorra standing on discs of reiatsu in the blackness of the void, the _haori_ of the Fifth Division still draped over Wonderwice's shoulders. Ulquiorra said nothing at first, a troubled, distracted look on his face as he merely turned and walked deeper into the blackness.

"Let's go."

* * *

"How in the hell do you have our zanpakuto, Ulquiorra?" Grimmjow asked as he held _Pantera_ in his hands reverently, and the other Arrancar gave a minute shrug.

"I did nothing," he answered. "If you want to thank anyone, thank Orihime."

Grimmjow took a moment to inspect the blade of his sword, but as he slid the blade all the way back into its sheath a catlike grin flashed over his face.

"Orihime, huh?" he said slyly. "So what happened to put you two on a first-name basis, Ulquiorra?"

The other Arrancar's expression clouded at the taunt and he said nothing; rather than fire off some hard-edged retort like he might have done back in the days of their rivalry under Aizen, Ulquiorra simply vanished in a buzz of _sonido_. Grimmjow looked after him with an arched eyebrow for a few moments, before just shrugging it off.

"So, the question now is," Saika said as he hefted his spear-shaped zanpakuto over his shoulder and looked around at the vastness of the Menos Forest, "where the hell do we go from here?"

"I don't suppose you have any other plans up your sleeve, do you," Wonderwice spoke towards a shadow cast by a massive tree,

"Urahara?"

The eyes of everyone else present shot open in surprise as the Captain of the Twelfth Division stepped out into the light, a smile on his face that unnerved even Gin. Yoruichi stood next to him, and flashed a feline grin at a thoroughly-flabbergasted Soi Fon.

"For now, no," Urahara said calmly. "For now, you're on your own. I'll do what I can to get Yoruichi re-instated as Captain of the Second Division, but there's only so much we'll be able to do for you from now on."

"Your best bet would probably be hiding out in the Human World," Yoruichi suggested. "Kisuke had Tessai whip up a few reiatsu-cloaking _gigai_, and those should keep the dogs off your scent for a while."

"Why are you doing this, Urahara?" Gin asked, and the Captain met his former enemy with an even gaze.

"I'm not doing this for you, Ichimaru," he said, "nor do I have any personal vendetta against Kuchiki or those others who opposed Unohana; right now, my interests and your interests just happen to coincide.

"But before the six of you head off to parts unknown, however," Urahara continued, his voice taking on a solicitous edge, "there's something I think you ought to know."

"Which is?" Wonderwice pressed, irritated that he'd been kept in the dark about something important.

"Byakuya Kuchiki is currently in possession of the Hougyoku," Twelfth's Captain declared darkly,

"And it has reached the pinnacle of its true potential as the ultimate engine of conquest."

* * *

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**A/N:** And there you have it, the interlude/bridge fic/part two of the trilogy, whatever you want to call it. Props go out one last time to **JasoTheArtisan** for being a super-duper beta, and for coming up with the title to this chapter that was bugging me for so long. I hope you enjoyed the story, and as always, **please review**!

And just as a heads-up, it'll probably be a _**while**_ before you see any of the main sequel popping up, because I'm going to be studying abroad for this coming academic year and probably won't have that much time to write amidst all the other crazy stuff that'll be going on. If you want to be sure you won't miss anything, though, just add me to your Author Alert list and you'll get an email notifying you as soon as I post the first chapter of the main sequel. But again, that probably won't be for some time.

So if any of you were asking yourselves, "But Jazzpha, why were you being such a speed demon posting up all of these chapters so quickly?!", that's why.

All the best, thanks for following me through yet another decidedly bittersweet tale, and here's hoping that I'll see you over at the concluding story of the trilogy.

**jazzpha**.


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